


What You Learn From Spying

by elvirakitties



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Child Abuse, Dom Harry Potter, Elemental Magic, Evil Dumbledore, Good Death Eaters, Good Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter is a Malfoy, Hermione Granger & Harry Potter Friendship, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Manipulative Dumbledore, Mentor Severus Snape, Mentor Voldemort, Other, Past Child Abuse, Pre-Slash, Slash, Sub Severus Snape, Sub Tom Riddle, Weasley Bashing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-02
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2018-05-24 07:34:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 30,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6146275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elvirakitties/pseuds/elvirakitties
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Severus learns about Harry's problems and helps.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Spying Pays Off

Severus was heading to his living room when he heard Potter's voice, he stopped at the doorway and began to listen. He was going to kill the brat.

"Hermione, I swear it's great, I even got a bedroom with a bed. He gave me chores but nothing like the Dursleys gave, and I get to eat three meals a day."

Severus couldn't believe it, he was hearing Potter telling Granger it's great here and better than his relatives? How was that possible? He wasn't treating the boy like a spoiled prince.

"Harry, have you told him what it was really like there? How you slept in a cupboard? Never got anything to eat for days at a time? I won't even mention that list of chores."

"He won't listen to me, I can't even go into the library, but Hermione you should see all the books, I just want to go and read them."

"Harry, I've been meaning to ask you about that."

"Books?" The confusion was clear in the boy's voice.

"Yes, when Hagrid took you shopping for your supplies, why didn't you buy more books or given the muggle-born basic books?"

"There are basic books?" That made Severus wonder what was going on, why would he need the basic books, he was told the boy learned all of their customs, rituals, and had been in training for years.

"Yes, the management should have supplied them to you, if they know you are a muggle-born or don't have knowledge of the wizarding world. The books are about writing with a quill, there is two that talk about basic customs in the wizarding world, one covers the basics of different ways of cutting in potions."

"I didn't get those books, I wonder why? Can you owl me them, so I can read them?"

"Yes, what are you going to do about clothes?"

"I am not sure, last year I tried to buy ones that would actually be mine not hand me downs from Dudley, but you know what happened. I really need trainers, I don't think I can glue or tape these ones any longer. I am afraid to use magic on them when we get back to Hogwarts, they might not make it."

"You can't let Mrs. Weasley take you, she was given your key and plans on taking you, I heard Ron say something to her about making sure you didn't get anything that wasn't on the list."

"Why?"

"You know why."

"I do, but I guess I was hoping we were wrong."

"I don't think so, just from what I have been hearing here is making me want to return home. I am thinking of owling my parents and see if I can spend the rest of the summer there."

"You have been there just three days."

"Three days to much, Harry, the stuff they have planned isn't good, Ron tried to get me to join in, they are being paid to be your friend and keep you in the dark."

"We knew about the keeping me in the dark. We wondered why they were on the muggle side of the platform if I didn't have you I would have believed them. I am not sure how much longer I can keep this up, playing stupid is harder than I thought it would be."

"I am surprised you made it all last year."

"There were so many books 'Mione I wanted to read, but every time I went to the library, he followed me there."

"I know, I slipped you as many books as I could. What are we going to for your second year, if Professor Snape doesn't believe you, we really have no one who will help us in Hogwarts."

"I know. I tried to talk to him, but he keeps seeing my bully of a father. That man was nasty 'Mione, I showed you his journal, those pranks him and his friends did were cruel."

"I know, I don't understand why he thinks you are like him."

"I am not sure, someone said something about me looking like James."

"You still haven't seen a picture of your parents? No one gave you one?"

"No, but that is OK, knowing they didn't die in a drunken car crash is a better image than I had before."

"That is true. I still think you need to work on talking to him, he took you for the summer."

"Because I refused to go back to the Dursleys, despite the Headmaster trying to make me. Granted I wasn't expecting to come here, I just wanted away from them."

"He doesn't know you found those letters or that you know about the stealing?"

"No, not yet, I kept that hidden. 'Mione, do you have any books about heirs?"

"No, but I can see if I can find one or two, why?"

"Neville mentioned something about being an heir and Malfoy is too, being the oldest sons of their families. I am wondering if I am one."

"You should be, I think I still have that book I read about the Sacred 28, and I thought I saw the Potter name in there."

"That would be great, I will see about a way to pay you back, I might have to go to the goblins and get my key that way, I have no winter clothes, and well Dudley's are almost falling apart, and I can't use magic to repair them here."

"Harry, I will see if my parents can try for custody again. You know they want you. We know it was blocked by the Headmaster."

"I know, your parents have been great, I do miss spending time with them."

"They miss you too. It's the first time in years we have been separated."

"Miss you too, 'Mione, I better go, I don't want him to get upset with me for using the floo without permission."

"He is treating you well?"

"It's Snape, he is doing what he always has done, I think he is working on if he ignores me, he won't kill me by the end of summer."

"I will send you books and those basic ones too."

"Thanks 'Mione, and if they do get bad, you know you can go home, your parents would love it."

"I know, I was just hoping I would get to see you, I wasn't expecting them to be in on the stealing and keeping you in the dark. I better go I know they will be returning soon. Bye Harry."

"Bye 'Mione."

Severus backed away and went to his office, he had to think about what he just learned. He knew the boy didn't know he was there, he was too timid around him. He began to review everything he knew versus what he saw last year regarding the boy. He thought about what Albus had told him and a few things weren't making sense. He got up and went to find the boy.

"Mr. Potter." Severus saw the boy sitting on his bed, rereading his books from last year, he wondered how many times he had seen the boy rereading those books. "We need to talk." He saw the fearful look appear in the boy's eyes as he entered the room. "You aren't in trouble. I want to talk to you about I heard about an hour ago in the living room." He conjured a chair for him to sit in.

"I am sorry, I know I should have asked to use the floo, I will find a way to pay you back for the floo powder."

"I am not worried about that, I do want to talk to you about what I did hear." He saw the fear go higher, he pulled out his potion pouch and handed him a Calming Draught. "Drink that."

He watched the boy take it, look at it and smell it. "Calming Draught?" 

Severus held back his surprise. "I can see your fear, and we need to talk, it will help." He watched him drink it. "I heard what you were saying to Miss Granger, I have a lot of questions I want you to answer for me."

"I can try, there are things we don't know about."

"Do your best, first I want to know what you meant by your own bed in a bedroom?"

"Well, my bedroom was a cupboard under the stairs, my letter even came addressed like that."

"A cupboard?"

"Yes, the boot cupboard, I had my baby mattress, at least I think it was from then as it's thin and small and Hermione said that what it was called."

"How long have you known Miss Granger?"

"Since we were six, we went to the same school, and found out we had magic last summer."

"How did you read your father's journal?"

"After I got returned from shopping with Hagrid, my aunt made me go up to the attic and clean, I found their trunks and well, you can't tell anyone this."

"If it won't endanger you I won't."

"I can do magic without using a wand, we didn't know what it was called, we just said I did tricks, Hermione and I used to put on magic shows and get me money that way, I was able to buy trainers with the money and food. So when I saw the trunks I shrunk them down and we have been going through the stuff in them."

"You can do magic without a wand?" Severus didn't know what to think of this news. If Harry could do wandless magic, what else could he do.

"Yes, the wand makes it slower and not as powerful but we figured if the Headmaster wanted me to stay with those people we should hide what I know."

"Why just you?"

"I would get beaten if I did better in school than Dudley, Hermione always got top scores, but no one but her knows I keep it hidden."

Severus feared what his next question will bring out. "Why don't you trust the Headmaster?"

"We found the letters he sent to my relatives, it tells them he wants me submissive and obedient, I was to never know of our world until he came for me, there were ones where he mentioned fixing things with the local authorities after they visited the house and saw how I was treated. Mr. and Mrs. Granger have tried for years to get custody of me, but he stopped it, sending warning letters to the Dursleys about getting their abuse under control and not letting anyone see it. He even mentioned making sure I ate more than twice a week, so he knew I was being starved."

"There is more isn't there?"

"A lot, I am not sure you are going to like it any better."

Severus pulled out his own Calming Draught and took it. "Do continue."

"The Weasley family is being paid, as I am sure you heard, Ron even tried to get Hermione to join them. We don't know why, we are trying to figure it out, but we figured it has to do with why my parents were killed and the Dark Lord possessing Quirrell than being burned alive."

"The Dark Lord possessed Quirrell?"

"Yes, that stone was used to make him come to Hogwarts, he wasn't happy with all of us being forced to go after it but he did warn us it might happen. He knows we didn't want to do it before he was turned back into that smokey form, he told me he wasn't mad at me."

"He didn't tell you why he attacked your parents?"

"He said he would and he warned me that I wouldn't like it but he did state he was insane and me defeating him got him back some of his sanity."

"Back to the stone, you said none of you wanted to go after it?"

"No, but we figured out that Hermione had a compulsion potion in her and that night I got the spell tossed on me, it was just like when we were forced to go after that troll."

"I thought Miss Granger was in the bathroom when the Troll attacked?"

"She was, but see Quirrell didn't want to do it, that was why he was in the bathroom, he was checking on us to make sure we were fine."

"He didn't want the troll loose?"

"Nope, he explained what a compulsion spell felt like and that is how we knew what happened."

"When did you start talking to the Dark Lord?"

"After our first class, he gave me a headache, but only when his back was turned to me, so Hermione and I stayed after class and well, you can't say anything about this either."

"I will try."

"I can see your dark mark, it's on your left arm, I saw the same darkness on the back of Quirrell's head, but I see it throughout the Headmaster, but his darkness is cruel, some of your snakes have a slight darkness in them, but you are more greyish, and so is most of the staff, Professor McGonagall is all white, but that one that dresses weird, she is full of lies."

"Do you have to say anything to cast a spell?"

Harry just held out his hand a book appeared in it. He handed the book to Severus, it was the one he had been reading and it was on his nightstand. He didn't even see it come into the room if he used Accio. "Do you know what you are?"

"Yes, an elemental."

"What elements can you control?"

"All of them, the Dark Lord helped me get control over my emotions. When I was upset it would rain or snow, anger brought storms, I can light a fire without thinking of it, and when we tried water, we found I can make waves and turn smooth into rough waters, we only did it on the lake but it was interesting to see, I can make the wind blow, one of the reasons I fly so well is I can fly on the wind currents and create them if I need to."

"Quidditch?"

"No, not during that, that would be cheating but I did learn a lot of my abilities before my first game."

"What about the curse during the game?"

"He was trying to see what you would do. He thought you might protect me and he was right, that is one of the reasons I didn't mind going with you."

"I thought you were a spoiled little prince."

"I know, Dumbledore has made sure everyone thinks that."

"I can only have you for the summer, he won't let you return here again."

"Yes, he will if we fix it so he can't change it."

"What do you mean?"

"Talk to Lucius, he will help us."

"How do you know Lucius?"

"The Dark Lord introduced us to him. The Dark Lord was originally going to help me escape from my relatives. His idea was a blood adoption and homeschooling for a while than have me return as someone else to Hogwarts."

"He was going to adopt you?"

"No, Lucius was. You need to talk to Lucius, he knows more than I do."

"I am thinking you are right, we still have some things to cover concerning your relatives, but I think I have learned enough for now, let's go and have some dinner, I made us some Sheppard's Pie."


	2. Dinner and Surprise

After dinner Severus led Harry to the library. "You can read any book you can reach, if there is a ward on it, please don't remove it." He looked at Harry. "I know you can do that."

"I can, it's how I read the restrict section when I sneak away from the Tower at Hogwarts."

"I figured, everyone on the staff had been wondering how it was happening, and we kept changing the wards, but you still got through."

"Yes, some of the wards were easy, some took me a few minutes to tear down, as I had to study them first and then rebuild them after I got the books I wanted."

"I know, there were alarms on the wards, and by the time we got there you were gone and the wards were replaced and I was the closest and took me about five minutes to get there. I will admit it, I am impressed."

"I knew about the alarms, gave it a bit of a challenge feel to it." Harry grinned at him.

Severus didn't even want to go down that road. "Let's continue with our chat, you said feed more than twice a week, how often were you given food?"

"If I wasn't being punished or something I got a piece of stale bread, a cup of cold soup, and water every other day, if I was locked in my cupboard while they were away I got that same meal and had to make it last until they got home. The water was more of a water bottle than a cup for that. If I was being punished I got nothing for as long as they deemed I was to be punished. I would fill up on water when I was allowed to go to the bathroom."

"I want to take you to the goblins and have their healers look at you. I have a feeling if I do a scan I won't like the results."

"I know Poppy didn't but Dumbledore took her memories and did something to keep her from running that scan on me again." Harry told him.

"Harry, I know what happened between us last year was not how it should have been. I want to fix that."

"It's really fine, I know you believed him, and 'Mione and I know you weren't after the stone no matter how many times Weasley said you were, the Dark Lord told us that if you wanted that stone you would have had it and no one would even know it was missing."

Severus laughed for the first time in a long time. "Did you spend a lot of time with him?"

"Yes, it was the only place we knew was safe, Weasley wouldn't follow us, none of the other pains did either. Dumbledore never bothered with any of the classes so we would do our homework and other stuff with him. Hermione and he helped me dumb down my essays so not to give me away."

"Do you know what Lucius' plan was?"

"No, they talked about it, but I didn't want to know since Dumbledore liked to do that surface reading of my thoughts and I didn't have good enough shields to keep him out if he really wanted to get in and we didn't want to let him know I was working on building shields."

"Can I test you?" 

"Sure."

"Legilimens." Severus meet with a jungle, filled with dense trees, a canopy of vines and branches with leaves, he could see lakes and was that a mountain? Wait, was that a maze? He looked around and saw a Sphinx, a potion cabinet, a dozen doors and it looks like a vast mud pit. He pulled out and looked at Harry.

"Good visit?" Harry was trying not to grin at the man, but he knew Severus saw the grin.

"I have to say I wasn't expecting something like that, usually, people stick with one theme and you have to work around it."

"I have been working on them since I arrived, I have animals that can attack if you go to certain areas, they are fun." Harry really had nothing to do but work on his shields since he arrived at Severus' home.

"How much of that is from you being an elemental?"

"I don't know, we tried to find books in the library but there weren't any, so we were going to look when we went supply shopping."

"Why is Molly Weasley getting your supplies?"

"So they can keep me from going into Gringotts and from buying what I want to read. They really want to keep me from learning anything but what they approve of."

"I will get the key or we can get Gringotts to do a recall, I don't care if she bought the supplies already, she had no right to take that money out, technically I am your legal guardian and I was to get the key."

"Go Snape." Harry cheered.

"You aren't afraid of me anymore are you?"

"Not really, now that you know the truth, I can see the difference in you, also you haven't been acting like the Snape from Hogwarts."

Severus leaned back in his chair. "Survival skills, reading people, that should have given me a clue. Most abused kids are very skilled at that."

"If it works right saves you from a beating or two." Harry shrugged.

"We will speak to Lucius in the morning. Tonight, I need time to process everything and get ready for whatever shocks we face tomorrow." He paused, giving Harry a stern look. "I do mean it about the books, and we will get you your own set of beginners books. They are worth having, and we will be looking for books that I believe you should read by the end of summer."

"Great, I think I have mine memorized." Harry think he did have a few parts of each one memorized.

"Were you meant to go into Ravenclaw?"

"Nope Slytherin, had to fight with the hat for it, 'Mione too, she was to go to Ravenclaw, but we knew from what Hagrid and Ron were saying that we had to go to Gryffindor or there would have been more problems. The hat did say I would fit in all houses but said I would be great in Slytherin."

_____________________________________________________________________

After they ate breakfast, Severus flooed Lucius asking Lucius if he would mind stepping through to talk to him. When Lucius stepped through and saw Harry sitting there he turned to Severus. "About time you caught on to the truth."

Harry just gave them a small smirk as Severus retorted. "I am seeing now what I should have seen years ago."

"Lucius, you know Marvolo isn't mad at him, and you shouldn't be either."

"I know Harry, how much does he know."

"Almost everything."

"Almost?" Severus watched Harry and Lucius exchange a knowing look. "What am I missing?"

"The Dark Lord is at my Manor, I am not sure what you might not know, I can only tell you what we have planned once Harry was away from those muggles."

"He is?" Harry asked.

"Yes, I retrieved him after I got Hermione's message. We have been waiting to hear from you."

"I didn't tell him about you." Harry told Lucius.

"Ah, that is going to be an interesting conversation, I think." Lucius smirked.

"We still need to go to Gringotts to confirm what we think."

"True, but I believe it is so, we can go in a few minutes, I think we should keep Severus from having a heart attack when he learns." Harry just shrugged his agreement. "Severus, you might want to sit down for this."

"Take a Calming Draught too." Harry inserted.

"Yes, that would be a good idea." Lucius added.

Severus looked at them and followed their advice. "I know I mentioned a blood adoption and not being sure of what the plan was, that is true I haven't lied to you, however, I did omit one piece of information that we aren't sure of."

"What he is trying to tell you is that we believe Harry is actually my other son."

"He's Julius?"

"We think so, but we aren't sure, too much doesn't make sense in the Potter mess and nothing made sense when Julius disappeared."

"So we are hoping the Gringotts will provide an answer."

"What happened to Harry Potter? Julius was Draco's twin. He went missing when he was 8."

"Remember when I said homeschool than going back to Hogwarts?"

"Yes."

"Part of that is because I am missing a few years of memories, yes, I meet Hermione when we were 6 but see Hermione was looking at photos from when we were little. Her parents noticed there was a difference in the eye color and a few other features, that happened over the Yule break. After Yule, her parents showed them to Lucius and Marvolo, who noticed the differences too. So we think the real Harry was killed by the muggles."

"We can't prove it yet, so we need to visit the Goblins." Lucius told him. "An Inheritance Test should be able to provide us with the answer."

"He will need to take the test, get a purge and then retake the test to prove the difference if there are any and if he has any blood glamours, spells, and potions removed from his system." Severus was thinking about the whole process and how to make sure they had enough evidence to show Dumbledore's involvement. "You know it might explain why Draco was so focused on you last year. The twin bond would have been pulling at him, he would remember it, whereas you wouldn't if your memories were erased or blocked with a Memory Charm, an Obliviate would just remove the event not change years of memories."

"I think I had flashes when I saw Draco, I know I did when I saw Diagon Alley, that was where I was taken from, I remembered the bookstore and I got scared when we entered it, it took me a few minutes to recover from it, I just thought it was a weird feeling and moved forward."

"What else do you remember?" Severus asked.

"Not much, things are more feelings."

"I know he is my son, Julius was an elemental, no one but Narcissa and I knew. That is what had me convinced when Marvolo mentioned him, it was all I could to hold back storming to Hogwarts and getting him. Marvolo is the one who kept me from doing that, reminded me how much danger Harry would be in if I did that."

"So if it's true, we will have to kill Harry Potter, revive Julius, come up with a story, because you know Albus had to have done this, no one else could have done it, not with the letters and knowing about the abuse. He had to much control and power to go after directly right now."

"That is very true, which is why we need to do this just right or he will get away with murder literally." Lucius told him.

"So home-school Julius? Is that the best idea?" Severus asked.

"Do you have a better idea?"

"I think I may, we can talk it over with our Lord and go from there if he is agreeable to and of course you and Narcissa."

"I hope I will be included in this discussion." Harry told them.

"You will be, you know that." Lucius smiled at him.

"So who knows this besides us three?" 

"Just our Lord." Lucius informed him.

"Miss Granger doesn't?"

"No, she is a smart girl but knows she can't hide things as of yet, so she opted to not know anything if it would put me in danger unless it was something she already knew." Harry answered him.

"Miss Granger, Harry, and I spent a lot of time with our Lord and we have pieced together most of this, but not everything. Harry still doesn't know what happened to the Potters, but our Lord didn't want to talk about it until we could be somewhere safe. At the time we didn't know Harry was Julius, we put that together shortly before the end of the school year when Miss Granger had been looking through the photos during Yule and her parents mentioned the differences. They showed us but what no one knew was that her parents got the pictures engorged." Lucius stated.

"Enlarged."

"Yes, something I think we can learn from muggles about their photos, they can, I don't know, she explained it."

"They can scan them into a computer and make them bigger and focus on different aspect of them. Mr. and Mrs. Granger did that and they looked at them and noticed how very different the pictures were but they couldn't tell us until after Easter break."

"Harry and Hermione have been teaching our Lord and me about muggles, some of the things are very interesting but we all agree we need to get our societies separated as soon as possible. While the Grangers are really wonderful muggles, even they agree most wouldn't react as well as they do. They had to convince Hermione about that. She ended up doing a lot of research on it and produced a lot more information than we could have uncovered, not just regarding witch burnings." Lucius told him.

Severus let out a sigh. "You mean to tell me Miss Granger and her parents figured out Harry wasn't Harry, talked to our Lord and they agree?"

"Yes." Harry and Lucius told him. 

"I don't think the Calming Draught was enough." Harry told Lucius.

"I do believe you are correct. Tea?" Lucius saw Harry nod. "Dobby."

"Yes, Master Lucius? Master Julius, Dobby so happy to see you again. When you coming home? He was bouncing around in his excitement and kept wringing his hands.

"Soon." He paused and looked at Lucius. "How does he know?"

"House-elf magic. Dobby can we have tea please and let my Lord know we will be heading to Gringotts soon."

"Yes, Master Lucius. I tell his Darkness. It is so great seeing Master Julius again." Dobby was still bouncing as he popped away.

Tea appeared and Lucius served as they waited for Severus to process everything he had learned in less than twenty-four hours. "I think I broke him." Harry finally said.

"No, Severus is made of stronger stuff, I just think he is trying to work out how to kill the old goat painfully and without the poison being found."

"Basilisk venom." Harry told him.

"Yes, I did forgot you two and the Chamber with Jocelyn."

"She is really nice."

"Harry, she is a 1000-year-old Basilisk, I really don't like the idea of you going down there by yourself." Lucius told him.

"I already promised I wouldn't, Marvolo would get upset if I did, he did say he would meet me and we could go and visit her and harvest ingredients from her." Harry gave him a slight smile.

"You are friends with a Basilisk, that would mean you are a Parseltongue. How?"

"We aren't sure, we thought it had to do with the scar but it's just a regular scar with a minor curse on it, that we couldn't remove until we headed to Gringotts."

"I want to kill that man."

"Line is forming for that honor." Harry handed Severus a cup of tea. 

"Wait Dobby knew you, why couldn't he find you before hand?"

"The wards at my relatives prevent it. It's a weird version of the Fidelius Charm, allowing muggles to see it, but wizards can't. There are also some other strange compulsions in it." Harry explained.

"Elemental, so you can see the wards?"

"Feel them too like here there is a few different common wards, a lot of personal ones, nice creative spell work on a two of them, and your floo even has its own set of wards." Harry glanced at Lucius, he knew Lucius wouldn't be surprised.

"He can rip them down in a second too." Lucius added.

"Yes, we experienced that with the library at Hogwarts, I didn't know it was him, we thought it was a group of six or seventh years, playing a prank."

"I wanted to read." Harry explained to Lucius.

"Books, of course." Lucius replied. "You always were addicted to them."

Severus looked stunned for a moment. "I just remembered that. You could take down the wards in the library at the Manor and were always reading books Lucius said you couldn't."

"I think he did it because I said he couldn't." Lucius added.

"I believe we best get to Gringotts and have a goblin take note of the wards at his relatives house, for future use." Severus said.

"I will add that to the list." Lucius said, "we are also going shopping afterward."

"Molly Weasley has my key."

"How? Never mind, Dumbledore." Lucius answered his own question. "We will get everything back and make sure no one can touch anything again, we need to make sure the seats haven't been used, I wanted to check that but one of Dumbledore's people is in that department and I didn't want it getting back to him."

"So much to do and only the summer to do it in." Harry muttered, he looked off for a few minutes and when Severus went to say something Lucius stopped him and they waited for a few more minutes. "Rain is incoming, also high winds, also the wind is saying that Dumbledore has been to Privet Dr., something about the wards."

"He is either trying to transfer them here or keep them from crashing." Severus said.

"Let me check." Harry stared off into space for a few minutes and disappeared. 

"Where did he go? How did he go? He shouldn't be able to do that with my wards." Severus looked panicked, looking around for pieces of Harry.

"He can do it in Hogwarts." Lucius told him. "He is checking out Privet Dr. since he went like that, he is using air, wind, and can't be seen."

"Who taught him that?" Severus asked.

"No idea, I think a lot of it Hermione and him experimenting. They told us about their magic shows, a lot of it was Harry doing things like disappearing. Hermione and Harry did a lot of experimenting and research before Hogwarts, granted they used muggle books on magic and adapted it for Harry to use during their shows. Hermione and Harry were quite creative in the use of magic."

Harry appeared back a little windblown but he sat down. "That man was trying to move them to here, they aren't going anywhere, I bound them to the property there. He will only be able to bring them down and that is it."

"Can he get anyone else to help with moving them?" Severus and Lucius asked.

"No, I bound them to the earth, sealed them within the foundation of the property too." Harry looked down at himself and asked, "care to fix it?"

"You can do all that but you can't do a glamour?"

"I can do glamours but these clothes have so much of my magic holding them together I am afraid if I do any more of it on them, they will fall apart."

"Let me get something of mine and we can transfigure it to your size. We don't need your clothes falling off of you any more than they already are." Severus headed upstairs. He was almost to the bottom of the landing when he heard them talking.

"I agree, I didn't think he would believe me."

"How did that happen?"

"He heard me talking to Hermione about how much better off I am here compared to the Dursleys."

"I wish you could have come home."

"I know, so do I but you know if I disappeared he would have everyone looking for me and telling everyone Death Eaters were responsible. I was surprised he asked Snape to be truthful and more than shocked when he agreed. I still don't know why he agreed."

"You didn't use your skills to listen?"

"No, I didn't want to take a chance of either of them knowing, even though I think king putz does know, I think he thinks I have a block on it."

"You most likely did, but it didn't hold."

"Do you have a plan for my second year?"

"No, we were going to wait and see what happened at Gringotts. If we have to kill Harry Potter, we can do it a few different ways."

"I vote for the way to get the Dursleys in trouble."

"So does my Lord." Lucius told him. "I personally want them to get Kissed after some lovely rounds of torture, maybe we can have Severus use a potion on them before we turn them over?"

"I find I am not opposed to that. Hermione is having a rough time at the Weasley's. She said they were trying to get her to help them against me. She confirmed that they are getting paid."

"I would have never have thought that family would be like that."

"Look at who they worship, Lord I'm God. Weren't they on his side during the first war?"

"Yes, something always bothered me about them, they are called Blood Traitors for a reason."

"I heard a few different reasons."

"There are a few, many of it involves breaking contracts, oaths, and other things, but Arthur and Molly seemed bent on repairing that image, but it appears they are just better at hiding it."

"Gryffindors, can't stand them." Harry told Lucius.

"You are one."

"Not really, I am a snake hiding in the den." Harry laughed.

"How are you handling all of this?" 

"You know, I am surprisingly fine with it. I think over the last year, learning all those stupid secrets has actually made me feel better about how I always felt off like I wasn't wearing my own skin."

"True, after today, we will have you back."

"How are Narcissa and Draco going to react?"

"I am not sure, I know Narcissa will be overjoyed, she really hasn't been the same since you disappeared. Now Draco, I don't think we will be mentioning you were Harry Potter to him just yet."

"I don't know, the twin bond might tell him, he will feel it." Severus said, joining the conversation. He gave the clothes to Harry. Harry smiled and headed to the bathroom to change. "The twin bond will be strong with them if it was strong while it was being blocked."

"I am worried about that blocked being removed, Harry is already so powerful, I know there are more blocks on him and I am wondering how strong that twin magic bond will be."

"Draco isn't weak either, between the two of them, they will be considered very powerful children."

"How are we going to control their magic?"

"Focusing stones." Was Severus' simply answer. "I am sure between all of us we will have enough. I wouldn't be surprised if the Potters didn't have a few too."

Harry returned and looked like a proper wizard. "So we ready to go?"

"Yes, but one question, how did you know Dumbledore was at Privet Dr.?" Severus asked.

"Oh, I have some snakes and wards set there to tell me what is going on." Harry told them. "The wards alerted me to Dumbledore being there, the wind just confirmed it, when I arrived the snakes told me what he had been doing."

"I am glad you weren't a snake, I would have never caught you doing anything."

"Actually you never did unless I wanted you to and that was usually to throw off Dumbledore."

"It's true, he usually told us when he was going to do it, so we wouldn't be surprised by the detention."

"I had wondered about that if you were an elemental how I could have caught you."

"I did it so you also wouldn't look to me for the library." Harry grinned at him.

"Shall we go?" Lucius asked.

"Yes. I am wondering if I have enough Calming Draught for us?" Severus asked.

"I am sure you do." Lucius grinned as they headed out the door.


	3. Secrets in Banking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> reworked ch 1 and 2 a bit, not a lot.

Severus, Harry, and Lucius apparated to just outside of the Leaky Cauldron. They could hear the whispers as they left the Leaky Cauldron and even from those they passed on the street. Most wondering who the boy between the two Death Eaters was. Severus was thankful they had put some glamours on Harry before they left because it was crowded in the Cauldron and the Alley, and has it was, Dumbledore was going to wonder what he was doing with Lucius Malfoy without Harry.

"Harry?" Lucius asked as they were almost to the bank. Harry had put his hands on their arms stopping them. They noticed he was listening to something.

"Someone is following us." Harry told them. "Same smell since we arrived, same pace and rhythm of their boots. They are getting closer." They saw the tension in Harry. 

"We can head to another store, lose them in the crowds." Severus began to plan a way to find out who was following them.

"That won't be necessary. I was just going to meet you." The voice said.

They all turned around and there was Marvolo standing in front of them. He was the same man he was almost 12 years ago, but a younger version, he looked in his mid-twenties. "My Lord." Severus and Lucius greeted him.

Harry narrowed his eyes. "You don't smell the same."

"I am not Quirrell anymore." Marvolo gave him a smirk. He knew Harry used the skills he showed the boy. "Dobby told me you were heading here."

"What was my first essay mistake for potions?" Harry asked.

"There wasn't one, Hermione and I had to change it around so that Severus wouldn't know you knew more than you should. Still the trusting little snake." He gave Harry a light touch on his head.

"Marvolo." Harry hugged the man. 

"Harry." Lucius warned. He didn't want his son to be punished by Marvolo.

"He is fine, Lucius." Marvolo said. "Shall we head in?" He let go of Harry. ~We can talk later about what has been going on.~

~That be good, Severus has been great, but I know he is unsure of what exactly is going on.~

~Well, he is going to be getting a shock or two in the bank.~

~I don't know if the man can take much more, plus all the stuff we think might have happened.~

~He will be fine.~

Harry just tilted his head up before the entrance of the bank and asked, "so Calming Draught now or after we try to recover from whatever we learn?"

Lucius gave him a slight squeeze of his shoulder. "Let's head in." 

___________________________________________________________________________

They were showed into Ironclaw's office. There are only three seats, so Harry climbed onto Marvolo's lap. "Where is Nagini?" He asked him as he leaned back into the man's chest. Harry could feel the tension in the room and decided to ignore it. 

"At the Manor, she is looking forward to seeing you and Hermione again. Severus, I want you to get an Inheritance Test done, I also want you to get tested to see if you have blocks, memory charms, and compulsions on you." Marvolo leaned down and whispered. ~I am not going to hurt him. I will keep my word.~ He had felt Harry tense up with worry about Severus.

"My Lord?" Severus questioned, trying to understand what was going on. Harry Potter was sitting in the Dark Lord's lap. The man he knew wouldn't even let a person touch him, never mind sit in his lap.

Marvolo sighed. "Severus, I told you I was there, the next day you remembered nothing, you also stopped talking to me for some reason. I believe you had something done to you." He hoped Severus would obey without having him make it an order. Harry, he knew, wouldn't like it if he made it an order. 

"My shields, they wouldn't allow that my Lord." Severus was a bit confused.

"Severus, your shields would if you were given a potion first and had it done." Lucius agreed with his Lord, something had been off with Severus but he felt it was more than just that one memory.

Ironclaw entered the office and took his seat. "Interesting group. Mr. Potter who isn't really Mr. Potter, Mr. Riddle, Lord Malfoy, and Lord Prince."

"I was disowned." Severus was now very confused.

"I am not sure who informed you of that information, but you and your mother were never disowned. It distressed your family a great deal when you wouldn't see them." Ironclaw stated.

Severus looked shocked for a second, he knew who informed his mother of her disownment. "I believe I will going to need some testing done and a purge."

"I agree, so does Mr. Potter who is really a Malfoy." Ironclaw replied. "For Mr. Potter, the same test will be needed."

"How do you know that? Why wasn't this told me when I first came in?" 

"I would like that answer too." Lucius said, if they had done those test, his son would have been returned last year.

"We tried, Hagrid prevented us from seeing him. Griphook tried to separate you at the carts, but Mr. Potter, we believe, was already under Venenum Amicitiae and trusted Hagrid." 

"Venenum Amicitiae keyed to Hagrid." Marvolo stated. 

"He was the one who got me from the Dursleys. He took me shopping and told me all about Gryffindor. What is Venenum Amicitiae?" 

"Friendship potion keyed to Hagrid." Severus answered. "It would explain how quickly that bond formed. I am still wondering why Hagrid was sent. It should have been either a Professor or Board member. Part of it is because we need the muggles sign the Statute of Secrecy paperwork and get all that information about our world." Severus said.

Harry's eyes went big. "My letters, they had to have them soaked in it because Hagrid didn't give me anything to drink or eat. Well, there was a cake but my cousin ate that, not me, and he didn't try to make me eat it. There also was no paperwork signing, I just followed him out after he bent my uncle's gun."

"He used Hagrid to get you to trust him and into Gryffindor. That man worships Dumbledore. None of the Professor are allowed to talk about only one house or to discourage any house. Hagrid, I am guessing only talked about Gryffindor and Dumbledore." Severus said.

"He wouldn't shut up about them, that is how Hermione and I knew we had to go into that House." Harry sighed, "I knew he only saw me as a pawn."

Lucius took his hand. "No more Harry Potter."

"Let's get this testing done. I have a feeling we are going to be taking up a lot of Ironclaw's time today." Marvolo stated.

"I need three drops of blood from each of you if you would just drop them on these crystals." Ironclaw pointed to the two crystals he must have gotten out why they were talking. The crystals were clear, round, and looked almost like glass.

"What will happen?" Harry wondered.

"When you put your blood on the crystal, it will begin to read your blood, your essence in a way, and using the magic in the crystal, it will provide us with what is in your blood and magic." Ironclaw explained. "Once the crystal changes from clear to a solid color, I will place them in the bowl, say the incantation, and pour the results onto the parchment." He pointed to the pieces of parchment on the table.

"The parchments have spells on them, how does that affect the results?" Harry asked.

Ironclaw grinned, his many teeth appearing. "Elemental." As if that explained any question he might have had. "We haven't seen one of you in decades. The spells on the parchment will absorb the liquid from the crystals, allowing the results to be seen in words."

The adults in the room looked surprised. "I never thought to ask how that worked." Marvolo finally voiced some of what they had been thinking.

"Mr. Potter is the first one I have ever had ask, and I have been doing this a long time." Ironclaw informed them. "It is something Mr. Dumbledore doesn't know about, this ability."

"How can you be sure?" Lucius asked.

Ironclaw gave them a slight smirk. "What do you know of Elementals?"

"Not a lot, we have been trying to find books." Lucius told him. Most of what they did know was from personal experience.

"You won't find books for sale. The Ministry has destroyed those books hundreds of years ago. You will only find books of that nature in family libraries or here. How do I know Mr. Dumbledore did not know? The answer is because he wouldn't have removed Mr. Potter from his family if he was aware of the fact. He wouldn't have put him with the abusive muggles. I can see the damage from them on Mr. Potter, Mr. Dumbledore wouldn't be playing games with Mr. Potter. Elementals are very temperamental until they find their mates if they are removed from their families. They need those connections to help them stay grounded. I am willing to say Mr. Potter here is connected to all the bad weather that Scotland experienced last year."

"There is more isn't there?" Lucius asked.

"The wards." Severus said. "He was trying to move them to my house, could the wards control some of Harry's emotions?"

"Yes, they could, depending on the wards, any compulsions or potions that are in his system." Ironclaw stated.

"We need those wards checked." Lucius pulled a piece of parchment out. "Here is the address, can we get that done today?"

"I will get it done now. If it has you say, and he has potions and compulsions on him, we will need to make the purging room ready for that." Ironclaw got up and left the office. No one spoke, all wondering if Dumbledore did what they were hoping he didn't do. Ironclaw returned. "We will have the results soon."

"Is there anything you can tell us about him being an elemental?" Lucius asked hopefully.

"Much more, but without knowing what elements he is connected to, it will be hard to tell what he can do and what he will need." 

"He is connected to all of the elements including life and death." Marvolo informed him.

Ironclaw leaned back in his chair. "We will be willing to provide help. I am sure King Jareth will open our library for you to use. There will be no fee, we only ask that if you are going to go after Mr. Dumbledore that you include us in your plans." He paused "let's do these test."

Severus went first and they watched the process and waited for the words to appear on the parchment.

Severus Tobias Snape

Father: Gellert Grindelwald  
Mother: Eileen Grindelwald Snape nee Prince

Adopted:  
Father: Tobias Peter Snape (Blood)

Title:  
Grindelwald-Father  
Ravenclaw-Mother  
Prince-Mother

Blocks:  
Animagi transformation-100% Albus Dumbledore  
Alchemy-100% Albus Dumbledore  
Magical resistance-20% Albus Dumbledore  
Magical Leech-20% Albus Dumbledore

Creature status:  
Fae-Submissive-blocked-Albus Dumbledore

Potions:  
Odio Potionem (Albus Dumbledore)  
Ventri Oboedientia- focus Albus Dumbledore: Keyed Love of Lily (Albus Dumbledore)  
Calming Draught (Severus Snape)

Blood:  
Blood glamour focus-Tobias Snape (Albus Dumbledore)

 

Severus looked faint as he stared at the parchment. 

"Isn't Gellert Grindelwald the Dark Lord that Dumbledore duel in 1945?" Lucius asked.

"Yes, he was. He was the one that gave Dumbledore his favorite expression, for the greater good. They were lovers in their teens. He is still alive in his own fortress." Marvolo told them.

"He knew. He knew, there isn't any way he didn't." Severus anger causing his magic to explode out of him. Magic was swirling around him as Severus realized what Dumbledore had done to him.

Harry climbed off of Marvolo's lap and walked over to Severus, he took his hand and suddenly the magic was gone and they watched Harry help Severus get control of his emotions. "I want him dead after we play with him." He looked at Marvolo.

Marvolo nodded his agreement. "We will talk to Grindelwald, he is still in Nurmengard. I know he got the slogan from Grindelwald because it hangs over the man's fortress. Severus, you know we will help you."

"I know, my Lord." Severus finally said. He felt betrayed. He felt used. He wanted revenge.

"You aren't the only one Severus, but we will make him pay." Harry smiled at him, and climb into his lap. "I am sure you can think of a lot of potions that will make him miserable until we are done playing with him." 

They all turned their attention to Harry's parchment.

Julius Orion Abraxas Malfoy

Adopted: Harry James Potter

Father: Lucius Malfoy  
Mother: Narcissa Malfoy nee Black

Adopted Father: James Henry Potter  
Adopted Mother: Lily Jasmine Potter nee Evans

Title:  
Slytherin  
Gryffindor  
Malfoy  
Potter  
Black

Blocks:  
Animagi transformation-100% Albus Dumbledore  
Metamorphmagi-100% Albus Dumbledore  
Magical resistance-20% Albus Dumbledore  
Transfiguration-20% Albus Dumbledore  
Charms-20% Albus Dumbledore  
Potions-80% Albus Dumbledore  
Astronomy-20% Albus Dumbledore  
Herbology-20% Albus Dumbledore  
Arithmancy-20% Albus Dumbledore  
Study of Ancient Runes-20% Albus Dumbledore  
Magical Core-20% Albus Dumbledore  
Magic Leech -10% Albus Dumbledore

Status:  
Elemental

Potion:  
Oculus Reductionem Potionem (Albus Dumbledore)  
Gregory's Unctuous Unction Potionem (weak)-Ron Weasley (Ron Weasley)  
Venenum Amicitiae-Ron Weasley (Albus Dumbledore)  
Venenum Amicitiae-Hagrid (Albus Dumbledore)  
Venenum Amicitiae-Dumbledore (Albus Dumbledore)  
Ventri Oboedientia-Ron Weasley (Albus Dumbledore)  
Ventri Oboedientia-Dumbledore (Albus Dumbledore)  
Dominari Respressive Potionem (Albus Dumbledore)  
Odio Potionem-focus Severus Snape (Albus Dumbledore)  
Odio Potionem-focus Tom Riddle (Albus Dumbledore)  
Odio Potionem-focus Voldemort (Albus Dumbledore)  
Odio Potionem-focus Slytherin (Albus Dumbledore)

Blood:  
Blood glamours-focus Harry Potter (Albus Dumbledore)  
Blood merge-focus Harry Potter (Albus Dumbledore)  
Blood ritual-focus Harry Potter (Albus Dumbledore)

They could tell when Harry finally processed everything as they were suddenly in a dark room, the wind started to pick up and they could hear the thunder resound in the room as heavy rains pelted the windows. The room light up as lightning flashed in the sky, they could see Harry floating with magic lashing around the room as object began to fly.

"Mr. Snape and Mr. Riddle as his submissives I would recommend you pulling him down, Lord Malfoy take his hands and all of your focus on getting him calm." Ironclaw said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ventri Oboedientia-Obedience Potion  
> Odio means hate  
> Oculus Reductionem Potion-Eye sight reduction potion  
> Gregory's Unctuous Unction Potion -friendship based on who gave them the potion  
> Dominari Respressive Potionem-Dominant Repression Potion


	4. Banking Secrets

"HIS WHAT?" Lucius yelled as he grabbed onto Harry. 

Severus and Marvolo just obeyed. They started working on getting Harry down by first grabbing onto Harry and started to talk nonsense to him. They saw several goblin warriors enter the office and the magic in the air was becoming oppressive. Ironclaw yelled a "no" as someone cast a Stupefy on Harry which is the last thing anyone needed to happen. Harry, in his fury, looked to the goblin who cast the spell and had the goblin in the air, the goblin trying to resist Harry's magic. 

Severus pulled out his potion pouch and in seconds was pulling out Calming Draughts. "Everyone spell one into Harry." 

The three wizards, with two other goblins, spelled the potions into Harry. Harry went crashing to the floor, he had passed out. Severus whipped out his wand and ran a health check on him. "He is sleeping." 

Lucius picked Harry up off of the floor and held his son in his arms. "I don't think we were expecting that." He certainly wasn't expecting Dumbledore to place all those blocks or potions into his son.

Ironclaw glared at the goblin who cast the stunner and started yelling at him in gobbledygook. He turned to the wizards. "I am sorry, he should have known not to cast a stunner at an angry elemental. They really don't like them."

"I know from his DADA classes that wasn't a normal reaction from him." Marvolo knew Harry was normally had very good control over his emotions.

"Normally it's not, but as I said, he isn't grounded, Elementals are very temperamental and when you have an angry one, the only ones who can calm them down are family or their mates." 

"How do you know Severus and I are his mates?" Marvolo asked. "Submissive ones at that?"

"Goblin magic, the test, and all Elementals are dominant and need two submissives to help ground them." Ironclaw pointed to Harry's test. "See here." He pointed to the Dominari Respressive Potionem listed. "It's blocking the ability but doesn't mean it's not there. Young Mr. Malfoy feels safe with all of you, Elementals only feel safe with those they consider family or their submissives. Abuse has made your heir less trusting and the bonds that do form will be stronger."

"Heir? Draco was born first." Lucius was confused, Julius was born almost immediately afterward.

"No, see under titles Malfoy is listed." Ironclaw pointed out the title section.

"That means we named them wrong." Lucius said. "Julius was to be Draco. How could that have happened?"

"Lucius, we were there, no one was expecting Julius, and I think in our shock no one noted who was who after laying Julius down and helping Cissy." Severus told him. "It was a rough delivery for Cissy."

Lucius remembered and looked down at his son in his lap. Cissy could never have children after that. "We got him back, that is all that matters."

"How is he, my heir?" Marvolo was wondering what happened. He knew the Malfoy family wasn't in the Slytherin line. Dumbledore had to have done something.

"He isn't, he is the Lord, you are the heir, two different lines but that is because of the blood magic that the Headmaster did. See blood merge and focus gave him the Potter's legacy. The Potter line is from the Peverell line, which comes from the Slytherin line. The Potter line comes from the first son of Salazar Slytherin, the Gaunt line comes from his first daughter, whose husband took the Slytherin name because he was the third son and Slytherin name had more backing."

"Is that how he can speak Parseltongue?" Lucius asked.

"Yes, the blood merge and ritual is what has brought forth all the lines abilities. That is why I believe they are blocked, but if you notice all the blocked abilities are from the Black and Potter lines. There are no blocks from the other lines."

"So Dumbledore didn't know who he stole and didn't know about the Potters being from Slytherin." Severus sighed, that made things easier.

"Correct, he also doesn't know that the Potters were from Gryffindor line too." Ironclaw informed them. He turned to Severus and touched Severus' test parchment, as he waved his hand and other pieces appeared. "Your parents were together in their unity of getting rid of Dumbledore. Originally your father and Dumbledore were friends. After your father escaped from his fortress, he met your mother."

"Wait, he is still in the fortress." Marvolo informed them.

"No, sadly that isn't the man. Dumbledore placed a golem of him there to cover up the man's escape. Gellert Grindelwald passed away before you were born Professor Snape from a curse. We believe after that Dumbledore memory charmed your mother and forced the marriage to Tobias Snape. We can't provide any evidence of this, but after researching that is the only conclusion we can arrive at. Your father never knew about you as he died before your mother was able to tell him."

"How do you know that?" Severus asked.

"Your mother visited us shortly after he died, but before she married Tobias Snape. She wanted to get out of England and was hoping to get some money. She closed out the vaults, but as she was leaving she felt dizzy." Ironclaw pulled out another piece of parchment and handed it to Severus. "The medical report, you see, she was only a few weeks pregnant with you." Ironclaw pointed out the results. 

"What happened to the money and how did Dumbledore do it?" Severus asked.

"We do not know exactly." Ironclaw pulled out two small ledgers from what he had summoned earlier. "In looking into this, we noticed shortly after Tobias and Eileen Snape's marriage, there was a deposit into Dumbledore's vault if you notice, the amounts are very similar, only a few Galleons are missing." Ironclaw pointed out the lines in the ledgers.

"There is more isn't there?" Lucius asked.

"Yes, thefts have been very evident in regard to the Potter, Black, Prince, and the founders' vaults. We can't do anything about reclaiming those funds until one of the owners' states they didn't know about them." Ironclaw produced more ledgers and began to show the wizards what they have seen over the years in regards to the accounts. 

"I will make whatever statement or authorization you need, but he never had permission to take any funds from my vaults or my families." Severus was fuming. He began to plan different ways to kill the old man.

"We need young Mr. Malfoy to make the same claim." Ironclaw indicated Harry in Lucius' lap.

"Is it safe to wake him?" Lucius asked.

"Yes, he will still be sleepy but he will be very mellow, which I believe we are going to need as we explain this." Severus glanced at the sleeping boy. "Let me pull out another potion if I have any left first, just in case."

"Won't he overdose?" Marvolo asked.

Severus turned to Ironclaw. "You know more about elementals, can he overdose if we have to give him another one?"

"I will have a healer come in and make sure before we wake him." Ironclaw got up and left his office. They all began to look through the information again. 

"I can't believe he did this." Severus said.

"I have a feeling we are going to uncover a lot more." Marvolo replied. "He had to have this all worked out somehow. Harry Potter's death threw him off, which is why I think he kidnapped Julius."

"I agree, the whole kidnapping at the time was messy, not a lot of clues but it was hasty. I remember the Aurors all commented on that aspect. I wanted to find out what they meant but we never did. We never released he was an elemental." Lucius said.

"Did you plan on being there that day? In the bookstore?" Severus asked.

"No, Draco wanted the new dragon book. Cissy had mentioned it at breakfast. Julius also wanted some new books, that didn't surprise us, however, Draco wanting a new book did. We wanted to encourage his reading and went."

"It wasn't planned it was a simply him being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"He should have known he was a Malfoy." Marvolo said. "The hair alone."

"He was under a glamour. Cissy and I cast them on the boys that morning. Julius had read a book and was playing with glamours, we got him to stop if we promised to take them to the bookstore under them. They thought it would be fun to pretend to be someone else." Lucius remarked. "We always blamed ourselves for that, you know, that if he looked like a Malfoy no one would have taken him."

"Not true, it might have made Dumbledore want to do it even more so, just with a better plan. You know how much he has been trying to get to you for years." Severus said. "Wait, this might change the Wizengamot too. He has to be using our seats."

They all looked at him, but before they can continue talking Ironclaw returned with a healer. The healer cast some detection spells. "I would try to avoid giving him any more potions today, in general. However, if necessary you can give him another one if needed. As an elemental his emotions, until they are focused or grounded, will be out of control and you might need to keep him on them, use them sparingly. He will process them fast, his magical core will process all potions faster."

"How big is his core?" Marvolo asked.

"I believe core is the wrong word choice, Elementals are basically all core, they can draw from an endless supply of magic, as magic is around us in all different forms. Elementals don't use magic the way a wizard or even other magic creatures do. We have limits, they don't. It's one reason your Ministry worked hard to kill them as children." The Healer informed them. "He will need ward stones and focusing items. I would also recommend that you keep whoever he is angry at away from him." The healer bowed and left the room.

"Let's wake the sleeping dragon." Lucius looked down at his son. "I have no idea how we are going to tell Draco and Cissy all of this." He muttered.


	5. Telling Narcissa

Lucius was carrying a sleeping Harry into his study with Marvolo and Severus following behind him. All three of them were tired and weren't looking forward to talking to Narcissa. They had finished with the bank shortly after Harry made his statement. It took a while to get him awake enough to make the statement but as soon as Harry made it, he curled up and went back to sleep. He slept through the purging, they woke him again for the retest. They were told the purging would also make him tired.

Harry had the Malfoy blond hair but could pass for a miniature Lucius. He was stockier than Draco, reminding them that Draco clearly took after Narcissa. They could see some of the neglect had done some damage to his body, but Severus and the goblin healers agreed it could be repaired.

Ironclaw agreed to keep quiet on what they discovered, he also would work with them on what they wanted to do. The goblins wanted Dumbledore out of power and were willing to help them.

"I am going to lay him down on the couch." Lucius laid Harry down and turned to them. "I am going to need your aid in telling Narcissa and Draco. She is going to be furious I didn't tell her when I found out."

"She will be upset granted, but I also think she will be grateful to have her son back." Marvolo knew Narcissa was a true Slytherin, she would want payback. He should feel bad for Dumbledore, but he didn't. Narcissa was going to make the man wish he had never been born.

Severus glanced to Harry and to Lucius. "She is going to want to go after Dumbledore hard. Draco will also have a hard time trying to keep control if he returns to Hogwarts. He will need to get control over his emotions. I can give Draco lessons in Occlumency, Harry has solid shields."

"Why isn't Draco an elemental?" Marvolo had been wondering about it since he learned Harry was one.

"They aren't identical twins, so they didn't grow the same something or another, some muggle science thing that a medic witch explained to us when they didn't look alike. In order for them to have the same abilities they had to share some type of egg, splitting was mentioned." Lucius said. Lucius and Narcissa had wondered that when they learned Julius was an elemental and Draco wasn't.

Severus looked down at Harry again. "What are we going to do about this mating? He is too young."

"We will talk to Harry about it, work on making a contract. Nothing will happen until he is of age." Lucius stated. There was no way he was going to allow his son to be mated before he was ready.

"Agreed." Severus and Marvolo said. They weren't going to be mated to a child. They knew they would have to wait and while it would be hard in some ways, they weren't going to change their minds.

Marvolo sighed. "We won't have any say in this, he is going to be listed on the contract as our dominant." He paused, "it explains why I didn't want to get him upset last year. I was working on making sure our dominant elemental wouldn't lose control."

"It does, I had to work hard to keep my word to Dumbledore about being mean to him. I also made a Vow to protect him, he forced me into making it." Severus informed them. "He used Lily's death." He explained. He knew they understood what he meant. They knew how he felt about Lily, his sister in everything including blood. They had done a blood bond when they were ten. While it wasn't a legal blood adoption, they accepted it as making them blood relatives.

Lucius and Marvolo exchanged understanding looks. "We need to work on making Harry Potter disappear and getting my son back." They didn't want Dumbledore to see them coming. They wanted him to pay dearly.

Narcissa knocked and opened the door. She walked in and took one look at Harry, back to Lucius. She fell to her knees. "Julius." She pulled him into her arms, she started crying.

"He is just sleeping, we found out just a bit ago at Gringotts." Lucius told her, as he watched her start rocking with Harry in her arms, trying to regain control of her emotions. He understood how she felt. The relieve of finding their son, the desire for revenge and the idea of not letting him go, ever. 

"Where was he?" She finally asked.

"He was with muggles. He was Harry Potter." Marvolo told her. "Dumbledore used him to replace the original Harry Potter."

She turned her full glacial glare to Marvolo. "I want Dumbledore dead." She said. "I don't care how or why, but I want him dead."

"He will pay." Lucius promised her. 

She didn't respond and just held her son. Severus knew she was going to make sure Dumbledore would die, she could be more dangerous than any of them when it came to her children. "We will make sure of it." Severus added. 

"I want the complete story." She finally said. "Do not leave anything out." Lucius, Severus, and Marvolo told her everything, she never let go of Harry, just holding him. When they were finished, she didn't say anything for a few minutes. They were getting uncomfortable. 

"We don't kill Harry Potter, we have Harry sightings, while we present Julius. The sightings need to come from anyone other than Slytherins or possible Death Eaters. He has to know Harry was Julius because of the kidnapping making the paper and from the Aurors. It's only been a few years since he was stolen, we are going to create a fake illness for him to recover from. Get a few different healers to provide the information, from different countries, not just ones Dumbledore might be able to talk to. Make the man doubt that the kidnapping happened and that Julius isn't Harry."

"I will begin researching illnesses, make sure the Healers we use can be trusted. They will be under a Vow or Oath." Severus said.

"We can plan out some events, from shopping to parties. I will make sure it's not just Death Eaters and our supporters. We will make sure it's people from every house." Marvolo added.

"At the end of the summer, if it's time, we set up Harry Potter's death." Narcissa said. "We set up the muggles and Dumbledore. I want them to pay first. I want it dragged out, I want to make it last a long time." 

All three men looked at her. "It will be done, Cissy. He won't get away with this, neither will the muggles." Lucius told her. 

Harry woke while in her arms. "Hi, Mother." He gave her a grin. "I see they told you." He looked at everyone in the room.

"Oh Julius." Narcissa pulled him close. "He is going to pay." She told Harry. "The muggles will pay." 

"I know, I had no doubts about that." Harry looked over her shoulder and kind of gave them a help me look. 

"Cissy can you loosen your hold on our son, you don't have to let him go." Lucius knew Harry wasn't used to Cissy and how protective she could be. "You know she isn't going to let you go for a little while." 

They all were quiet as Harry fell back asleep. "Narcissa, why don't you take him and put him in his room." Lucius touched her shoulder. "I will cast the Featherlight Charm on him." Lucius pulled out his wand and cast the spell, knowing she wasn't about to let him go.

They watched Narcissa carry Harry out of the room. "She is going to make that man pay dearly." Marvolo stated. 

"Yes and it's going to be glorious to watch." Lucius said. 

"Indeed." Severus replied.


	6. Family

Harry woke to someone sitting on the bed. He opened his eyes. "Draco?" Harry was slightly confused. He looked around the huge room. It had off white walls, the drapes were a deep forest green and matched his bedding. There was a huge wardrobe, which was dark walnut and was bigger than anything he had even seen, the rest of the furniture was done in matching walnut with leather seating. There was a desk with a black leather office chair. 

"About time you woke up. I figured you might be as confused as I am." Draco was sitting on the bed, with his back resting against the bedpost. He was dressed in regular blue day robes over black trousers with a white shirt.

"I was. It's been a rough year." Harry sat up. "A long year. How did I get here?"

"Father carried you home, Mother put you to bed. The Healers said you would be tired, you missed breakfast." Draco answered. "Harry."

"Julius, might as well get used to it." Harry said. "Draco, I am sorry for this year. Weasley is with Dumbledore and I couldn't let him know I knew something was off." 

"I know Uncle Severus explained it all. I wanted to say I am sorry, but it does make sense in how I felt." He paused, still a bit unsure of how Harry would react to him. "I didn't know it was the twin bond."

Harry smiled. "I will accept your apology if you accept mine? I should have taken your hand. If I had known I would have."

"How about we forget this year and go forward? I am glad to have my brother back." Draco said. "So what do we do to them when we go back to Hogwarts?"

"I am sure we can play with them. The hat wanted me in Slytherin, I begged it for Gryffindor, so maybe we can be together." Harry looked down for a second. "Draco, Hermione helped me a lot." He knew Draco rant against Hermione and he wanted them to be friends.

"I know. Julius, Marvolo and Uncle Severus explained it all. I mean they went into details. Mother was very insistent that they tell us everything last night after dinner. Father explained how the Grangers helped figure out you weren't Harry Potter and he tried to explain about the pictures."

"Hehe, he doesn't get it completely. I think Marvolo understand it better." Harry explained. "The Grangers enlarged some photos and compared them."

"That sounds cool, do you think Hermione would like to come here and visit?" Draco asked.

Harry grinned. "I am sure she would love to come. She is at the Weasley's and hates it. She wants to head home, maybe we can get a message to her and have her come here. Maybe Severus can deliver one to her."

"I am sure we can work on it. I am anxious for you to meet my friends too." Draco responded.

"Sounds good. Have they decided on what they are going to tell people?" Harry asked.

"Yes, we have." Lucius said from the door with Narcissa next to him. "Good afternoon, we wanted to see if you were awake and hungry."

"You must be starving, you didn't eat any dinner or breakfast. Are you comfortable?" Narcissa asked moving closer to Harry. 

"Draco was telling me I missed breakfast."

"You did, we made some decisions last night, but I am sure we can discuss them downstairs. How about you go and get ready for lunch and Draco can show you down to the dining room." Lucius explained. "Your mother is going to want to take you shopping."

Harry groaned. "Shopping?" He really didn't want to go clothes shopping. "Can't we just owl order?"

"No, it will be fun. We can get our friends to go and maybe if we need to, we can kidnap Hermione if she can't get away from the Weasleys." Draco stated.

"Oh, we can owl her and get her that way." Harry agreed. "Maybe have her meet us at the bookstore, they won't go in there with her."

"Relax on the plans. I already spoke to her parents and they are all arriving at the end of the week." Lucius said, trying not to laugh as he and Narcissa listened to them make plans. "Marvolo and Severus are also waiting us to join them shortly for lunch."

"Lucius." 

"I liked it better if you called me Father." Lucius told him.

"Father, I can do that, can we get some books?" 

Narcissa laughed. "You and your books." 

"I remember that." Draco's voice was filled with surprise. "You were always reading. How are we going to get his memories back?"

"Severus has an idea on that." Narcissa stated. "Now let him get up and get ready for lunch."

______________________________________________________________________________

After a quiet lunch, everyone moved into the sitting room. Harry moved to sit between Marvolo and Severus. He looked around the room and waited. "We spoke last night about what we learned." Lucius started. "We need to get your memories back. Severus or Marvolo can do it. They can look and unlock those memories for you."

"Is it painful?" Harry asked, tilting his head to look at Severus and Marvolo.

"It can give you a headache if they are deeply buried, it all depends on what he did." Severus answered. "We know we wouldn't hurt you on purpose?" 

"I know. So what are we going to do about getting me back to Hogwarts?" Harry wanted to go back. He wanted to finish his education.

"We have a few different ways we are going to work this. You will need to be seen around Diagon Alley and other places, while others report a Harry Potter sighting someone place. We might be able to get the both of you seen in Diagon Alley at one point. If we do it on the day the book lists arrive, numerous people will see you both and it will make it back to Dumbledore. I am going to be you, under glamours for it to happen, Hermione can be with me. Severus is going to tell the old fart you want to go back to your relatives and make sure others see him deliver you there. Don't worry it will be me." Marvolo explained. 

"We will make sure it's not just the Death Eater or anyone from Slytherin house who report the separate sightings. Everyone used will be either in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Do you think any in Gryffindor might help?" Severus asked.

"No, I really didn't make any friends in there. Hermione and I weren't sure who we could trust. Ron Weasley also made it hard for me to be friends with anyone else. He would make sure everyone knew I was his friend. We heard him warning a few people that I was his best friend. He made it sound threatening without issuing a threat." 

"He was always making sure no one else would be Harry's, I mean Julius, friend. I heard him more than once say he was Harry Potter's best friend and telling others to back off. If any Slytherins even spoke to Julius, he was there, ready to start a fight." 

"So stick with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Maybe get Rita to do some stories on people seeing him." Narcissa stated. "I can have teas with Madam Zambini and a few others to spread the word to ones loyal to our cause."

"At the end of the summer we get your relatives and Dumbledore in trouble for the death of Harry Potter." Marvolo went on to explain. "He will have to explain why he left you there. The goblins can release how the real Harry died if you want. You are still the legal heir for those titles and vaults." 

"Won't we need a body for that?" Draco asked.

"We will either transform an already dead body or use a golem. We place it at the muggles' house and let it be discovered by the muggle. The Grangers will call in the authorities concerning the state they saw Harry in during the summer." Severus added. "We spoke to them earlier about this plan and they are in agreement that the Dursleys need to be punished."

"Now, regarding the return of our son, we are going to be using that you have been ill. We have already lined up numerous Healers who will produce the necessary documents. Severus spent the morning speaking to them and lining up the necessary background and story for us to use." Lucius informed him. "Narcissa will be taking you shopping to get you formal robes and other clothes for various social outings."

"Shopping." Harry groaned. 

"We will take you to get some books too." Narcissa stated. "There are some interesting bookstores in other magical areas I am sure you will enjoy."

Harry grinned as Severus added, "your trunk and books from my house are already here. Hedwig is out with Nagini hunting."

"Are you leaving?" Harry wanted Severus to stay with them.

"No." Severus replied he looked to Lucius. "Harry, what do you remember about yesterday?"

"Not too much, I was very tired." Harry answered.

"Harry, what do you remember about what Ironclaw said about being an elemental?"

"I remember Ironclaw knew what I was, and something about the weather." Harry answered.

"You're moods affect the weather. When Dumbledore stole you, it caused the weather issues we have been experiencing. Elementals need family and their mates to stay stable. We believe that Dumbledore didn't know you were an elemental for if he did, he would have realized how dangerous it was to remove you from your family." Marvolo said.

"Julius, this next part is something you need to know but realize nothing will be done until you are of age." Lucius stated. "Technically, nothing can be done until you decide on it, but we agreed to wait until you are of age."

"I already know they are my mates." Harry told him, shocking everyone in the room. 

"How?" Narcissa asked.

"Their magic. All of us are dark wizards. Hermione is grey, Dumbledore likes to say he is light, but he is corrupted. Professor McGonagall is light, so is Madam Pomfrey." Harry answered. "Can't everyone see?

"No, Julius. I believe we will need to see what other gifts you have." Marvolo answered. "Once your memories return, we will help get you caught up on everything else."

"When are we going to get my memories back?" Harry asked.

"Tomorrow." Severus answered. "I want to make sure you are fully recovered from the purging."

"We are going to go after Dumbledore, right?" Harry asked. 

"Yes." Everyone responded back. 

"Good." Harry stated.


	7. Memories

Harry took a seat in Marvolo's office. He was surrounded by his new family. Severus and Marvolo pulled chairs and sat in front of Harry. "Julius, either of us can do this. If you want, one of us can start, work on getting as much done as possible in an hour, give you a break and then the other will work again for another hour."

"Do you really think it will take that long?" Harry was getting nervous.

"It might, you have some very strong shields. It's going to take us a while to find things, your mind isn't exactly an easy place to visit." Severus reminded him. 

"We are first going to have to find the memories, hopefully, that won't take to long. After that, examine what was done, how it was done, and work on undoing the memory charms he would have placed. I am hoping he did very simple memory charms." Marvolo answered.

"Can't Julius find the memories for you?" Lucius wasn't an Occlumens, he did have a basic understanding of what was required.

"He will help us once we are in his mind. Normally, an Occlumens can go through his own mind and find the memory charms, however, we are also dealing with the fact it might not be a straight memory charm. We need to actually see what he has done. I don't want Julius to release the memories without checking them first, in case he added some traps or other preventative measures." Severus answered. "I am slightly surprised that Julius didn't find them."

"Can you both enter at the same time?" Draco looked at his Uncle Severus, he knew the man was talented in the mind arts, he wasn't aware his brother had shields that impressed his uncles.

"Good question Draco and it's one that can't be answered clearly, as it's a yes and no answer. If we were dealing with a single memory without any kind of charms or preventatives, we could do what they can a tandem Legilimency. One of us would basically follow the other in as the spell was cast. It takes a lot of trust between the people involved to be able to do it. It's also a no in the sense that it does take trust again but the memory can't be more than one memory and we would have to know it wasn't charmed against an invasion of the mind or attack on the memory." Marvolo answered. 

Harry was clearly thinking about something. "Julius?" Narcissa asked.

Harry looked up. "I think I know where the memories are. There is a spot at the back right corner of my mind, there is a steel door there and with a lot of locks on it." 

"How easy will it be to get to it?" Marvolo asked, knowing the general area did help. He knew from Severus that Harry had his mind set up like a flat earth with different areas and topography built in.

"I can guide you there." Harry answered. "We have to go through the desert, a maze, some jungles, across a moat, through the castle, over a river."

"I believe we get the idea." Severus laughed. "I saw some of it remember?"

"You have all of that in your mind?" Lucius was amazed, he never heard of such details and depth in someone's mind.

"He even has an apothecary set up for storing his knowledge." Severus informed them. "I was surprised by what I saw and I was only in for about two minutes."

Everyone looked at Harry, who shrugged. "So who wants to start?" He asked.

"Severus is going to go first since he has already been in your mind once." Marvolo answered. They also felt that Severus was better at the mind arts than Marvolo was when it came to needing a gentle touch. Marvolo was used to ripping into minds and getting information that way.

****************************Severus' POV************************

"Legilimens." He found himself back in Harry's mindscape. "Julius?"

"Here." Harry answered.

He saw Harry standing at the beginning of the desert. "Any traps?" He asked.

"Yes, but I know where they are, we can avoid them. We just need to move fast." Harry warned.

"Fast?" He was looking around and saw some sand dunes, he noticed the ground moving. "Why is the ground moving?"

"Sandworms. If we move fast they won't catch us." Harry told him. "Run due west, run when I say run." 

He faced west and waited for the command to go. He made a mental note to add something like this to his mind shields. "Run." He heard and he ran. He noticed Harry was keeping pace with him.

After several minutes, which seemed like forever to him, they saw the start of the maze. They finally reached the maze and he stopped and inhaled deeply. He worked on gaining control over his breathing and looked into the maze. "Anything I should be warned about?"

"No, it's a straight maze. I did, however, change the format, it's not a square, it's round." Harry told him. 

He looked at Harry. "A round maze?" 

"Yes, the secret is to keep in as straight as line as possible." Harry told him. 

"Lead the way." He followed Harry into the maze. There were a lot of quick turns, some fake walls, that Harry just walked through. He was impressed, he would have to add some fake walls. Every since he had been in Harry's mind, he had begun to build up a different layout in his own mind and was actually enjoying doing it. He also found his shields were stronger because of it.

"We're almost halfway through. The center has a boulder in the middle, I built the maze around it." Harry told him.

Once they reached the boulder, he stopped. "Harry, this boulder, did you put it here?"

Harry turned and looked at him, he could see Harry thinking about how he built the maze and when. Harry touched the boulder. "It feels warms. I don't remember putting it here."

He walked around the boulder. "Harry, I think some of your memories might be here. Ones, you put here to protect yourself, ones you are hiding from."

He watched Harry walk around the boulder, thinking about what he said. "How do I access them?"

"You are going to need to find a way to either break the boulder or lift it up." He told him. He stepped away from the boulder as Harry touched it again, he saw the influx of power and watched as the boulder exploded. Memories came flying out.

********************************memories****************************************

"Dirty little freak, I didn't want another here. I ought to kill you like I did the other one." A huge fat man screamed at little Harry. 

Harry whimpered as the huge man picked him up and tossed him, bloody, hungry and covered in filth back into the cupboard under the stairs. Severus saw Harry crying.

************************memory***************************

"Freaks don't get food for free, you earn your keep. It's bad enough I have to have you in my house." The fat man said. 

Severus ducked as a fist headed for him and connected to Harry who was standing at the stove cooking. He watched Harry fall off of the chair and scream in pain. "Shut up you freak. I don't want to hear you. I will give you something to scream about next time you open your mouth." 

Severus watched as Harry picked himself up, climbed back onto the chair and resume cooking the food. "No food today, for screaming." He heard the fat man tell the boy.

*************************memory***************************

"Look it's my freak of a cousin. I have a new game we can play. It's called Harry Hunting, the first one to find him, gets the first two punches." A fat boy was telling his friends.

Harry, he could see, was trying to hide, but wasn't doing so well. "Run freak." A taller, skinny boy said, as the other two fat ones were clearly not going to wait for Harry to run.

He saw Harry get up and start running. He kept up with the smaller version of Harry who was running. He felt proud when Harry climbed a tree, knowing the two fat boys couldn't and wouldn't climb the tree. He got a close look at this Harry and realized it was the real Harry Potter's memories. This child was about six or seven. Julius was kidnapped when he was eight. Even if they were the same age, the real Harry Potter was too small for his age, the lack of food would do it.

"Julius, these aren't your memories." He told him. He realized that Julius was behind him. 

"I know. He is so small. I think I hid these memories, to escape his pain. It was so much and I didn't have any shields to hide it behind." Harry answered.

"I agree."

They saw several more memories of similar events involving the fat man and boy. The memories were gone. Blackness was now present.

************************End Severus' POV**********************

"Do you want a break?" Severus asked.

"I think I need one. I can still feel the emotions." Harry told him. They retreated out of Harry's mind.

Severus pulled a crying Harry into his arms. "I need a Calming Draught for each of us." 

"Narcissa is already on her way to get them. We saw the tears and figured they would be needed." Lucius told him.

Narcissa returned. She walked directly over to Severus and Harry. "Julius, honey, you need to drink this." She held the vial up to Harry's mouth. "You too Severus." 

Severus took the vial in his hand and drank it down, as Harry did. "You made it to the locked memories?" Narcissa asked. She was clearly worried about her son.

"No, we found where Julius buried Harry Potter's memories. It looked like the old coot, removed Harry's memories and put them into Julius."

"How?" Marvolo asked. "If Harry Potter is dead, he couldn't have taken the memories."

"He might have taken them before Harry died. The way he was treated, he might have slipped into a coma first." Severus kept his hand running up and down Harry's back. "Narcissa, if you sit back down I will put him in your lap. We need to review the memories I saw." 

Narcissa went back to the couch she had been sitting on. Severus got up and carried Harry to her and laid him down next to her. Harry wrapped his arms around his mother and curled against her. "Lucius, Marvolo, I think it would be better if we reviewed them in Lucius' office."

"Draco come sit with me." Narcissa told her other son. She could see Draco was getting anxious about what was going on. Harry opened his eyes and gave an encouraging smile to Draco as he joined them.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Severus waited until Lucius and Marvolo were seated. "I know how the real Harry Potter died. He was killed by his fat muggle uncle. Dumbledore in his wisdom gave Julius all of Harry's memories. The abuse he suffered, it makes my life seem like I was spoiled rotten." 

"Sweet Mother of Merlin." Lucius said. "Why would he do that?"

"The memories would make Julius not want to fight the muggles and make him fearful, especially forced like that." Marvolo replied. "If they are as bad as Severus says, it' amazing he hasn't lost his mind.

"Let me show you." Severus went to where he knew the pensive was stored and set everything up for them to view. "I am not going to watch them again."

Lucius and Marvolo exchanged a quick look but entered the pensive to see what the original Harry Potter had experienced and what their Harry had to now live with. Severus sat down and began to sort out the memories he had and get his emotions and shields back in his full control. He came out of his own mind and waited for his friends to finish watching his memory. When they were booted out of the pensive he saw tears in their eyes. "I don't even want to think what is locked away." Severus told them.

"I can't believe he gave my son those memories." Lucius finally recovered.

"He is going to pay. Severus, we need to keep these memories safe. I want to be able to use them against him when we finally get him to pay for what he has done." Marvolo said. "I also want to get those muggles."

"I know where they live. We can't do anything until after we make sure Julius is safe. Even if they go to a muggle prison, we can still get them later." Severus reminded them. 

"If they go to a muggle prison, we will have the muggles deal with that fat whale. I know muggles hate child abusers and child killers." Lucius had the gleam in his eyes, the gleam of divine retribution that he was going to make sure happen. "I have a few squib police officers on my payroll, they can help us spread the word to the prisons if Dumbledore tries to cover their crimes."

"He is going to be too busy trying to save himself." Marvolo growled. No one spoke for a few minutes. "Severus, do we want to get more memories today?"

"I believe it would be best. It will be easy to get back to the maze. We were only half way through it when we found the boulder." Severus answered. "If I get us through the maze, we can leave a marker behind for you to arrive at later."

"Let's have some lunch first, get ourselves back together before you go digging around my son's mind." 

"Agreed." Marvolo and Severus answered. They rose and went and joined their family.


	8. Memories 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bad memories, but nothing to graphic.

Marvolo was staring again, Severus could feel it. "Marvolo, why are you staring at me?" Severus asked, putting down his book. They were in the library researching memory charms, rituals regarding memory charms and any bonds that could be used like a memory charm.

"I am finding your new looks to be utterly amazing." Marvolo told him. Severus lost the beak of a nose, it was now smaller, straighter and fit his face, his eyes now had gold specks in them, his hair had some blond streaks, not as blond as the Malfoy family blond, but a muted dirty blond. His hair lost the greasy look and feel, it was now fuller with a bit of a curl to it. He wasn't so gaunt, he looked healthy, even his teeth straightened a bit, his skin smoothed out, the lines on his face were gone. It was almost as if all of the "ugly" or flawed parts of Severus disappeared. 

"I am aware, Julius keeps touching my hair." Severus calmly responded. He knew he was going to have to find a way to explain his new appearance or use a glamour set in a piece of jewelry so that Dumbledore couldn't see through it. He also knew why Julius was touching his hair and knew Marvolo understood. As the submissive, it was a soothing gesture and one that the three of them needed.

"We will need to cover it." Marvolo stated, voicing Severus' thoughts.

"I was already thinking of how. A ring?" Severus knew Marvolo had jewelry that would hold glamours.

"He might notice a ring, maybe a pin?" Thinking of the different items he had in his vaults. He could also create a few different piece to rotate the items so the old fool wouldn't see the same item daily.

"A button." Julius said from the doorway. "He wouldn't notice another button. Place it on his sleeve." His headache from earlier was gone and he had talked to his mother and father about what he saw in the memories.

"No one would notice another button." Draco added. Julius and Draco had been almost inseparable since Julius woke up. 

"A few buttons, I believe, I can switch them with my robes." Severus liked that idea. Dumbledore would never suspect his buttons of holding a glamour. 

"Now that it is decided, are you ready for us to go and see what is behind that door?" Marvolo asked Julius. He knew no one was looking forward to it but it needed to be done.

"I will go and get our parents." Draco exited the room.

Everyone was gathered in the library, Narcissa had tea and Calming Draughts ready. Lucius was making notes about the earlier memories and he wanted to get anything we did down while Severus and Marvolo entered into Julius's mind. It was Marvolo's turn to join Julius. 

"Comfortable?" Marvolo asked he was sitting on a cushioned chair. They were now facing each other.

"Yes, but what happens if we don't get close enough?" Julius asked.

"I will switch with Severus and he will continue, we will keep alternating." Marvolo answered. Julius nodded. "Legilimens."

"Hi." Julius said from the center of the maze. 

Marvolo looked around. "Was this the hole?"

"Yes, I already moved the debris away. We need to head west. To get out of the maze, we just need to head straight as possible." They started walking and Marvolo was impressed, he was going to follow Severus example and add some of what he was seeing into his mindscape. 

They exited the maze. Marvolo saw a vast jungle as he faced west, to the north looked like mountains and to the south, he saw the Apothecary Cabinet that Severus mentioned seeing. "We have to go through a few different jungles, this one is based on the Rainforest in the Amazon, we should have no problems with the snakes, just be careful of the vines, they will attack you if you try to touch a memory."

"Really?" Marvolo asked he didn't think you could do that in a mindscape without being present.

"Yes, I attached the memories to different trees or plants and set the vines that were attached to the trees or plants to attacked anyone who touched them." 

"I think the three of us are going to be having some serious mind arts discussion because you have changed some of the theory which they are based on. I want to see if we can do some of your defense in our minds."

"Let's start, we have a bit to go." Julius led the way, as they walked, Marvolo was looking around. Everything was so neat and tidy, even the jungle. There was no clear path, yet there wasn't anything fluttering around. He could see birds flying. 

"Do the birds have memories?" 

"No, they are watchers. They watch anyone who enters. They will trigger alarms or even attack if needed. I found them pretty." 

Marvolo had to agree, the birds were pretty. The birds were different types of parrots, hornbills, toucans, and raptors like eagles, hawks, and vultures. He looked at the vultures watching them, he was going to be adding those, they would scare anyone. "Julius, how did you learn to do all of this?"

"In the cupboard, I needed something to do, I needed a way to escape them, so I retreated into my mind and built things. We are almost out."

"Julius, are these memories of the Dursley family?" 

"Some. I know I will have to speak about them, but I want to find out what is behind that door." 

"I agree." Marvolo knew he would be speaking to Narcissa and Lucius about this. They really did need to talk to him about the abuse and how to deal with it. They were already worried about what was behind that door. 

They walked through two more different types of jungles, one was more along the lines of what you would see in Africa. There were elephants, zebras, and even panthers. The next one was a bit more swampy, with alligators in the waters. They finally exited. Marvolo stopped, he was looking at the hugest castle he had ever seen. They had to go over a moat to get to it. He saw a bridge rise out of the moat and form to allow them to cross. 

"It will be easy to get through, we just need to go up and down a variety of stairs." Julius told him as they started through to walk over the bridge. 

"Where did you get the idea for the castle?" Marvolo asked. 

"The Legend of King Arthur. There is even a round table in one of the rooms." Julius answered. "Petunia was watching some movies on the King Arthur to aid Dudley, well actually she did the work on his project for our literature class. So I got to hear all these theories and legends on him, Merlin, and Lancelot." 

They went up and down a variety of stairs and Marvolo thought Hogwarts had nothing on the stairwells compared to Julius. He was stepping over trick steps, had to wait for the staircases to stop moving and one Julius said if you stepped on it, you would be dropped into a dungeon. Another staircase just spun you around, before tossing you to the first floor. They finally made it through. The same type of bridge appeared to get them over the moat again and they continued on their way until, at last, they reached the river. Julius pointed to the door. Marvolo looked at it and began to think about the different traps or even tricks Dumbledore could have put on those memories. 

They arrived at the door. It was a thick steel door, sunk into the foundation of the room, there were numerous locks on the door. Marvolo examined it closely. "I don't feel any magic blocking us from entering. Do you feel or sense anything?" 

"Just a sense of do not open the door. It's like it's pushing me away from it. Something is hiding behind that door. It feels conflicted. It wants us to turn away, but it also wants freedom." Julius wanted to touch the door, wanted to comfort whatever was hidden behind it, but also wanted to run far away. He could sense the fear, the confusion.

"Julius, I am here with you." Marvolo told him. "I am going to start to unlock the door. I want to just watch." Marvolo watched Julius as he started to unlock the steel door. Each lock, they could feel the fear, it was growing. Suddenly the door exploded. Memories overloaded them, and Marvolo was kicked out of Julius' mind.

"Julius!" Narcissa didn't quite scream but it was close enough. They all moved to Julius and Marvolo as they slouched in the chairs.

"Are they alright?" Draco asked, fear lacing his voice.

Severus and Narcissa had their wands out, running scans. "Yes." Severus finally responded. "Whatever happened, it didn't hurt them."

Marvolo moaned and opened his eyes. He turned to Julius. "The door, it was Julius' memories from the kidnapping and his life before. He kicked me out as his memories overwhelmed us. He will need some time to sort them out."

"Did you see the memories?" Lucius asked, he looked at his son, he wasn't sure he wanted to see them. The last ones were at the forefront of his mind.

"Yes, and I can understand him working on sorting. The feelings from the memories overwhelmed us. I don't think I had ever felt anything from a memory that strongly."

"Can you show us?" Lucius asked, he wanted to help his son whatever way possible, but he believed at this point in time it would be better idea to review them.

"Let me put him to bed, first. Draco, why don't you go Blaise or Theo's for the rest of the afternoon. I know you want to help your brother, however, I believe he will be sleeping for a bit." Narcissa took charge of the situation. 

"Yes, Mother. I will see if I can visit Theo." Draco looked at his brother lying on the couch. He felt conflicted. He wanted to stay with his brother, give him some comfort but knew Julius would be taken care by their parents. He gave his brother's hand a squeeze, released his hand and headed for the floo.

Lucius laid a blanket over his son, while Narcissa was running her hands through Julius' hair. "The pensive is ready." They all quietly went to the pensive. Marvolo organized his mind and pulled the memories.

*******************************memories***********************************

Blackness and fear. "Mother? Father?" Julius was shaking, he couldn't see anything and couldn't move. "Mother? Father? Please."

"Be quiet, my boy." They heard as they looked at each other. It clearly was Dumbledore speaking. "Now remember Mr. Dursley, you can't just go keep killing the boys. I can't have too many go missing."

"I told you I didn't want any of those freaks to begin with." Vernon Dursley voice was filled with anger and hatred. They glanced at each other in the pensive, wondering exactly how many times Dumbledore has done this.

"If you want to keep getting money then you have to deal with Harry Potter. Remus, do you have the potions ready?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, but I am warning you, we don't have any more of James' blood. This is it." Remus said. "I took as much blood from this child as I can, but it won't be enough if we need to make another boy look like James. We can't use two different blood glamours if he kills this one. Do you even know who this is?"

"No, and it doesn't matter. He doesn't look like anyone we know. Now, open your mouth, my boy." They saw some shaking, so they know Julius refused to open his mouth and was shaking his head no. "Remus, hold his nose closed." 

They can see the struggle Julius put up but since he was restrained it failed. The potion was forced down his mouth. "Freaks. The whole lot of you. I don't want him here. He might hurt my son." Petunia stated. "I don't trust him."

"We will be binding his magic and a few other restriction will be added, he won't hurt anyone. I do want him trained to be submissive and passive." Dumbledore said. 

"You little bugger." Remus growled. "He bit me." They heard a smack and saw Julius shake again, clearly indicating he was the one hit.

"I didn't think the wolf would do something like this." Severus commented.

"Remus!" Dumbledore rebuked him. "We don't hit children."

"Yes, Alpha." Remus responded.

"That explains a lot." Marvolo stated. "Dumbledore clearly has established himself as his Alpha. I wonder if he did a ritual or bonding spell?"

"I am never going to get used to that." Petunia could be heard saying. 

"Freaks." Vernon responded back. "What are you going to do with the other freak?"

"Same as we did last time, blame some dark creatures for his death." Dumbledore stated. "However, that doesn't give you leave to kill another child. If you kill this one, I will end your payments and have you arrested for murdering all of them. That would be nine counts of murder, child abuse, and child neglect. I am sure your muggle prison would enjoy your stay."

"You can't threaten me, you're just as guilty." Vernon declared.

"You forget how easily I can make sure you don't reveal anything about me or my world." Dumbledore words weren't threatening but the tone certainly was.

"Alpha, we need to finish this and head back. You know Minerva and Severus will be looking for you." Remus stated.

"Yes, we do." Dumbledore said. They heard his voice as he started casting. They could feel the binding Julius magic, they felt the restriction of spells being placed.

"We have the goblins investigating the wards." Lucius stated. "I asked them to do it when we were there."

Julius could now see and he glared at the Headmaster. "Just one more thing and we will be on our way. Obliviate."

******************memory******************************

"Freak, it's time for another round of Harry Hunting." A heavy child stated he was surrounded by some other boys.

"Go and bother someone else." Julius responded. "Your mother wants me to finish planting these flowers." 

"That is Dudley?" Severus asked. "That kid is huge and the exact opposite of Julius. What do they feed him daily? A cow?"

"Oh, he's gardening, guess he's a shirt lift. Let's show him what happens to shirt lifters." Another boy said, lean and a bit taller than Dudley.

"Yes, Piers, let show him how to garden." Dudley smirked.

The group of five boys started destroying all the flowers, bushes, tossed the planting soil all over the grass. They watched as Julius tried to stop them. "What do you think you're doing?" Petunia screeched as she stepped into the backyard.

"Mum, he hit me." Dudley whined.

"Oh, my poor Dudkins." Petunia stated. "Your father will fix him. Now you boys go inside, there are some fresh biscuits on the counter and a cake on the table. Help yourselves." 

"Chocolate Chip?" Dudley asked from his mother's arms.

"Of course." Petunia told them. She waited until the door closed after the last boy and rounded on Julius. "You are going to fix everything in this yard. You won't be coming inside the house until you get all of this soil out of my grass. Your uncle will deal with your destruction of this garden. He works hard for his money and won't like seeing how you destroy his property." She grabbed his shirt and began to smack him across the face, and did it again and again. When she was finished, Julius fell to the ground. She headed into the house.

Vernon came out of the house as Julius managed to get into a sitting position and looked at the mess Dudley and his friends created. "Boy! What did I tell you about creating or doing freaky things like that." They saw Julius already flinching and curling into himself, Vernon grabbed him and dragged him into the house. 

"I don't know if I want to see this." Lucius stated.

"I know I don't." They all replied. 

"We can't skip it. If we want Julius to be able to process it, we need to watch." Narcissa sadly said. "We already know this man killed eight other children that we know of. I thank Merlin, he didn't kill our son."

They watched one of the worst beatings they had ever seen, ending with Julius being tossed into a boot cupboard.

*******************memory*******************

Julius standing at the range, cooking breakfast. They heard his stomach growling. "No food for you, today, you burnt the bacon again." Petunia stated.

They looked at the bacon and saw it looked fine and wondered how the Dursley family wanted their bacon, raw? "It's a method of control." Marvolo explained. "Control his food and water, making him do what they want in order to survive. No wonder he did so well on his adventures."

"He was resourceful." Severus stated.

****************memory*****************

"Here is your food and water while we are gone. You better make it last, we will be gone a week." Vernon tossed Julius a loaf of bread, some peanut butter and two jugs of water. "I am locking you in your cupboard, I don't want any freakiness happening while we are away." 

Julius was sitting on a thin mattress, surrounded by household junk, holding the loaf of bread, the two jugs were placed on a shelf, the jar of peanut butter was on the mattress at his ankles. They saw the door close and heard the lock slide in place.

They watched what seemed like endless memories of beatings, of starvation, but the memories they wondered about were the memories of Julius turning a teacher's hair blue, landing on a school roof when running from his cousin and his gang of thugs, shrinking a jumper he didn't like, or his hair growing back overnight. "It shows his power if Dumbledore bound him and he still was able to do those things, we need to make sure he keeps control over his magic. We don't want the Ministry to find out he is an elemental." Lucius told them.

"Agreed." They all stated as they watched the last memory of Julius getting his letter and their run from it. They got booted out of the pensive.

************end memories*********

"That doesn't make sense." Severus stated. "Why did they run? If they knew Dumbledore and his plans?"

"Maybe they looked at it as their slave escaping." Narcissa really wanted to hurt that family. "What are we going to do in regards to them?"

"Severus is going to send them some special treats, for all of them. I will be adding a compulsion spell, an old one that will allow the treats to get through any wards and make sure they all eat them." Marvolo gave him an evil grin. 

"I have a few potions in mind." Severus' smile matched Marvolo's.

"I want to add a spell to it. I want them to relive what Julius experienced from Julius' perspective." Narcissa said. "There is a Black family one that would work."

"I was also thinking, we could add some stuff to the wards, make sure they can't move. I was thinking she likes a clean house, it will always be messy, no matter how much she cleans. For the whale and pig, I was thinking of making all food taste like liver and onions, or something they don't like. It doesn't have to be specific. There is also a ward that would make them tell the truth about everything. If someone asked them a question, no matter where they are, they will admit the truth." Lucius stated.

"I like that idea, I want to add a ward that will prevent them from leaving on overnight trips. No more vacations for them. Also the urge to do all the gardening." Severus added.

"I want to lay the foundation of different wards that we can build onto later, as we discover things, but starting with the inability for the males to get any kind of sexual gratification ever, while Petunia will become a nympho who only wants her darling husband." Marvolo stated. 

They began to plot their revenge on the Dursley family, Dumbledore and Remus Lupin. They would work on finding out how much the Weasley family and anyone else in the Order knew.


	9. Summer, Supplies and Hogwarts

Draco, with Hermione, slowly opened the door and crept into Julius' room. When they got close enough they both jumped on the bed. "Wake up." They screamed together, only to be tossed across the room as Julius reacted.

As their bodies hit the wall, they both let out a gasp of surprise. Severus had entered behind them and seeing this, rushed over to check on them. "I warned you." He told them. They had all warned them actually. 

Julius was dealing with his own memories, Harry's memories, and they weren't too sure who the other children were. So they weren't sure exactly sure who's memories belong to which child, all knew was they died horrible deaths from starvation to be beaten to death. 

Lucius had reached out to a contact within the DMLE to see if there were any magical children missing. They weren't sure if Dumbledore stole the children from the magical world or used muggle-borns in orphanages, their homes or even outside of the country. 

Because of the conflicting memories, Julius was a bit more emotional and clingy to family, Severus, and Marvolo. His magic was unstable when surprised or having a flashback. They were still trying to figure out the triggers. They had arranged a mind healer to see Julius, but that wouldn't be until tomorrow. It was one of the Marvolo's followers. 

The Granger family had arrived last night and Draco had enjoyed listening to all the things they showed had brought with him. They also brought Marvolo a lot of modern history, science and computer books. Mr. Granger brought a video recorder to show them what one looked like and how it worked, not realizing magic wouldn't allow it to work. 

The only good news they had, was that Dumbledore still didn't know that Harry was missing. When Mrs. Granger stopped by their house, they found the house empty and for sale. Lucius contacted Ironclaw and arranged to buy the house, to keep the blood wards active so that Dumbledore wouldn't know what happened. They place some transfigured golems in place. The golem wouldn't pass any magical test but they would fool the neighbors and anyone watching the house. 

"I'm so sorry." Julius looked awful for sending them flying across the room. "My magic just reacted."

"It's our fault, Julius." Hermione said standing up. "We should have known. Severus did warn us." 

"I am fine too." Draco stood up. "Though I would have liked a softer landing." 

Julius smiled as Severus said "go and get ready. Your Mother wants to go shopping in the muggle world. The Grangers have agreed to show us some of the modern things like computers. Draco, Hermione, go down and tell everyone we will be ready shortly. I want to speak to Julius."

"Uncle Sev, it really was an accident." Draco stated. "We shouldn't have jumped on the bed like that, knowing he wasn't awake."

"I am aware and that isn't why I want to speak to your brother." Severus reassured him. "We have a lot to do in the next few days. So head on down."

When Julius exited the bathroom, Severus had already laid out some clothes and made the bed. "I wanted a few minutes to speak to you. The mind healer is coming tomorrow. She would like to meet with you privately. How do you feel about that?" 

"Privately? Marvolo feels she is trustworthy?" Julius asked as he looked at the clothes laid out. "Severus, I am not dressing as like a miniature you." He picked up the black shirt and black vest and headed to his wardrobe. He returned with a forest green silk shirt and a black vest with matching green pinstripes. 

"Well, at least you aren't dressing like your Father and Draco. You have some taste." Severus replied. He really didn't care for the colorful tones Draco and Lucius wore. The Malfoy family was too interested in fashion, he hoped it was something Julius wouldn't indulge in. 

"I am not wearing pink or those other colors Draco and Father favor. This mind healer is Marvolo making them take an Oath or Vow?" Julius asked. 

"I believe she already has, if not she will be. Marvolo doesn't want to take a chance on anything being leaked out or someone trying to use a truth serum on her." Severus answered. "How did you sleep last night? I didn't hear any alarms."

"Fine, I have been working on my Occlumency." 

"You know you can't bury those memories?" Severus handed him his hair brush. 

"Sev, I know. I haven't and actually, I think I found out how we can separate the memories to figure out how many children are involved. I am not sure if it's correct, that is your area but I have an idea."

"I am not sure if we are able to do anything but go ahead."

"Multiple memories of the same thing. I found a few I guess you could call them repeat memories. Some were only repeated once, but there are a few that are repeated a few times, some are up to nine times. They were in the rainforest. The vines on the trees, the trees that have multiple vines linked together have the same memories." Julius explained. 

Severus thought for a few minutes. "I think Marvolo might have a better idea on that since I didn't get to see the rainforest. I will say it's worth researching and reviewing. If we can find the memories and add them in separate streams of memories, we might be able to determine exactly how many children and when."

"Sev?" 

"Yes?" 

"Do you believe we can get Dumbledore?"

"Yes. Your memories show him and his name is mentioned. We might have to wait and work hard but he will be punished." Severus answered as he moved closer to him. "Now, enough morose talk, I believe it's time we enjoy ourselves." 

______________________________________________________________________________________

"I can't believe how fast this summer is going." Draco commented as they were walking through the crowds in Diagon Alley. Hermione was walking with them, but under glamours so that no one would recognize her. She had owled the Weasley family and told them she was away with her family and would get her supplies when they returned. 

"What is happening over there?" Hermione pointed to the large gathering of witches, including Mrs. Weasley outside of Flourish and Blotts Booksellers. 

"The book signing." Lucius sneered, trying to keep his tone neutral. "That idiot Lockhart is here signing his books. He is your new DADA Professor. He is going to announce it today." 

"That is why those books are on the list? I picked one up last year it was tripe." Julius stated. "I am not buying any of them."

"He's so brave, Julius. His books are so exciting." Hermione almost rushed to the gaggle of women. "You need to respect him, he is going to be our Professor."

"Is she serious?" Draco asked. "You would think after what she learned over the past year she would have lost that ideal."

"Merlin, I hope she wasn't serious. I don't want to listen to her go on about him all year." Julius responded. He looked around as Narcissa and Lucius walked them slowly towards where Hermione was now standing outside with crowd gathering. 

"We can actually meet him." Hermione was almost jumping up and down in her excitement. "He's written almost the whole book list."

"We are aware and trust me I am not thrilled about it." Julius muttered just loud enough for Draco to hear.

Mr. Blotts stepped out of the store and stood on the step. "Now, ladies, please be patient, all in due time. Please enter the store and mind the books." 

Julius looked around and realized they were surrounded by women his mother's age or older. He looked at his mother and she wasn't eager to enter the store either. "May we just skip this store?" Julius asked. 

"Please?" Draco added, he didn't want to enter the cramped bookstore. "I am sure we can borrow Jean's books if we are forced to read that tripe." Using Hermione's middle name in case anyone was listening to them.

Lucius tried not to laugh at the comment as he leaned down. "No, we aren't buying those books, we will wait to the crowd leaves and come back and get you some real books on Defense and the rest of your list too."

"I will let Jean know you are heading to get your school clothes, we can meet her at Madam Malkin's after we visit Twilfitt and Tatting. Her parents have already brought her new school clothes. I will remain out here and wait for her." Narcissa didn't wait for an answer as she moved up next to Hermione and informed her of where they would be. 

Draco and Julius started to walk towards Twilfitt and Tatting's when Ron Weasley stepped in front of them. "Malfoy, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be hiding in Knockturn where your kind dwell?" Ron looked pleased with himself at the insult. "After all, snakes shouldn't be around good people. You belong in Knockturn and should stay there."

"Red-hair, bad clothing, bad manners, and loud. You must be a Weasley." Julius knew Draco would recognize the words he had used. They weren't exactly the same as Draco's but they got the point across.

"He is." Draco responded. "He must be trying to earn the money to buy his school supplies. Sorry, we only give to reputable charities." 

Weasley's wand was in his hand and pointed at them. "I say it's time to take care of some snakes. After all the only good snake is a dead snake." 

"I say it's time I speak to your mother." They all turned at the new voice and saw Kingsley Shacklebolt standing there. "Follow me, Mr. Weasley." He had clearly been under an invisibility cloak that some Aurors used during patrols.

"What? Why? They started it." Ron seemed surprised that he was in trouble. Everyone knew Slytherins were evil.

"I saw everything from the moment you approached them. If anything you provoke them, and they didn't pull their wands out after you threatened them."

"What have they done to my boy?" Mrs. Weasley came running over to the group, followed by Lucius and Narcissa. "Ronny, did they hurt you?" She pulled him into a hug, then pushed him out to the full extent of her arms so she could inspect him. 

"Mrs. Weasley." Kingsley started. 

"I want to press charges. I know they did something to my son." Mrs. Weasley started to raise her voice, causing a crowd to gather. "I know they had to do something. No one can trust a Slytherin."

"Mrs. Weasley." 

"Mum." 

"I mean it. My husband will works at the Ministry. I won't stand to be ignored." Mrs. Weasley stated. "Do you need to see a healer, Ronny?"

"Mrs. Weasley, if you would let me speak." Kingsley stated. "Your son is the one that is in trouble if you wish to know. He approached them, insulted them first, and then drew his wand. Mr. Malfoy and his friend did nothing, not even drawing their wands." 

"Oh." Mrs. Weasley said as she watched the crowd starting to mumbling about that they heard. "It's just we have had a long family feud with the Malfoy family."

"That is no excuse for your son's behavior. If he cast a spell, he would be in trouble for underage magic." Kingsley replied. "Now, we are going to go and sit down and discuss this. Since I stopped him before he committed a crime, there will be no charges."

"Indeed." Lucius commented as he looked at the Weasley family. "I do thank you Auror Shacklebolt for your quick response."

"Just doing my job. We have too many people in Diagon for someone to start firing off spells."

"I quite agree. If you excuse us, we will continue on with our shopping." Lucius stated, placing his hands on the back of his children and guiding them away from the crowd. 

"That will make some interesting dinner talk this evening around the magical world." Narcissa commented. 

"A certain old wizard won't like the press." Julius added. 

____________________________________________________________________________________

Severus sat down in the Headmaster's office, he was annoyed as Molly Weasley was standing in the office, almost yelling. They had a lot of work to finish as school was due to start in a few weeks, but instead, he was in the office listening to Molly Weasley lament about what happened in Diagon Alley earlier. "I know they did something to my son." 

"Molly, I spoke with Kingsley. He saw everything. Ronald was the one to start the confrontation and if he had cast the spell, he could have been charged." Dumbledore told her. "What did Kingsley say about keeping it out of the press?"

"He can't. I already asked. I tried speaking to Rita, explaining it was an old family feud, but Ron, well he said some things that really shouldn't have been said to Draco Malfoy and another boy. I don't know the other boy's name."

"What about what you said?" Severus had been in the office when Kingsley had floo Dumbledore to make him aware of what happened.

"I told Rita it was just because I was distraught." Molly replied. 

"Molly there isn't anything I can do. Rita will print what happened. Lucius will make sure of it. I am having enough problems with everything happening that I can't fight Lucius on the smaller battles. I am still trying to get back control over Wizenagamot." 

"Did you find out anything?" 

"No. Everything has been sealed and only the Head of the House can reveal the information." Dumbledore was frustrated. "However, once Harry returns I will have him sign over control to me. I will be made his guardian again and I will be able to regain control." 

Severus didn't bother to respond. He knew the man knew the truth, that even if Harry returned, there was no way he would gain control. He knew the goblins had informed him of the new security measures. He watched Molly glance at him and he knew what it was about. "Severus, I need to speak to Molly alone." 

Severus just stood up and left the office. Lucius had received a notice from Ironclaw about the Weasley wondering where their money was. According to the goblins, it was the money they were counting on to buy school supplies and have Ginny attend. 

When Ginny acceptance letter and schooling was paid. Lucius asked the goblins about auditing the vaults. They agreed and they were waiting for the results. They were betting that Ginny took the place of another student who should have gotten a scholarship. One that as Ministry employees daughter Ginny didn't qualify for. The Ministry had programs to aid their employees' children if they needed funds for Hogwarts. It wasn't a scholarship, but a very low-interest long term loan. One that the child could take over payments if the parents couldn't later on.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Julius stood at the end of the first years. He watched everyone as they were sorted, and he was wondering what the Headmaster was going to pull. He wasn't really listening to where the new students went. He was watching Dumbledore, discreetly, as he knew Severus was also.

They had already met with the Board, he had taken the placement tests at the Ministry, bypassing Dumbledore and was enrolled before Dumbledore could even wonder what happened. Dumbledore had tried to stop his placement, even demanding a copy of the medical records and wanting a Parentage Charm cast. The man lost when they submitted everything. 

"Malfoy, Julius." McGonagall called, bringing him back to the sorting. 

Everyone but a few Slytherin, Hermione Granger, and Severus Snape wondered who the new Malfoy was. They watched him walk like the pure-blood he was and before he even sat down on the stool the hat yelled "another Malfoy? Slytherin." 

Julius made his way towards Draco and before he even sat down Ron Weasley was heard to say "figures he was a snake. Should have known in Diagon Alley." 

"Mr. Weasley five points from Gryffindor for misconduct." McGonagall commented, she saw several of her lions glaring at Mr. Weasley. She looked closely at the students surrounding him and noticed Mr. Potter wasn't present. "Albus, Mr. Potter isn't here."

Dumbledore looked up and down the Gryffindor table, and proceeded to the next table and the next trying to find a sign of Harry. "Meeting in my office, after the Feast. I will summon Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley."

Severus didn't comment, as he was still glaring at Weasley. He was going to enjoy giving that boy a lot of detentions. Weasley was on the same level as James Potter and Sirius Black.


	10. Dumbledore's Problems Are Just Starting

Hermione was slightly behind Severus as everyone made their way to Dumbledore's office. Hermione wanted to scream as she listened to Ron go on about Harry and Julius, not realizing they were the same person. Ron had been telling her, on the train, about how they had to find Harry. Hermione wanted to hit the boy, as he again called Harry a git.

The past few weeks had been one blow to Dumbledore after another since Molly and Ron's embarrassment in Diagon Alley. Dumbledore had been having problems with getting information out of the goblins. The multiple Harry sightings and wondering what happened to allow Harry to appear in other places was putting Dumbledore in a very uncomfortable position, as the Ministry wanted to know why Harry Potter was all over the United Kingdom. 

Dumbledore had already questioned Hermione, who didn't lie when she said she had no idea where Harry Potter was, or what happened to him, after all, Julius wasn't Harry Potter. Hermione knew that Ron had tried to send a few letters to Harry, but the owls would return with an unopened letter, and the tracking charms that Dumbledore had put on them, showed the owls just flew around in circles, trying to figure out where they were to go. 

Hermione glanced at Severus as she passed him on the way up the stairs to the Headmaster's office. Severus gave her a slight tilt of his head. They were the last two to enter the office. Minerva was already seated in her usual seat, while Ron was by the fireplace, speaking to his mother. Dumbledore was pouring some tea, Severus moved to stand in his usual spot, while Hermione took the last seat. "Molly, have you heard anything regarding Harry?" Dumbledore asked. 

"No, Albus and Arthur mentioned that Fudge might have the Aurors start searching if he didn't appear at Hogwarts today. I am not sure if Kingsley or Moody are aware of the situation. Arthur just happened to be in Fudge's office as he was giving Umbridge some notes. He mentioned going to Gringotts, also." Molly answered. She turned in the fireplace as they heard Arthur enter the room. "Arthur, did Fudge say when he was going to speak to the Auror Department?"

"No, Mollywobbles." Arthur answered as he appeared in the fireplace. "Albus, he mentioned speaking to the muggles."

Severus would have to mention this new information to Lucius and Marvolo tonight. They needed to make sure they weren't connected to Harry Potter's disappearance and they wanted to make sure that the Dursleys and Dumbledore did get into a lot of trouble.

"Hermione have you heard from Harry?" Dumbledore had been to see the goblins a few different times and they still refused to provide any information. He knew if the Ministry got involved, the goblins would release information that he didn't want to be released, including the Potters' Wills.

"No, I did as you asked, and sent a letter the muggle way and also using an owl, and the owl returned, but the muggle letter never came back, so I don't know if it made it to Harry's relatives or not." Hermione answered. She agreed to keep track of Ron, Severus was going to use detentions and other methods to allow Hermione to meet with him, Draco, and Julius. She was to be considered an honorary snake.

"Severus?" 

"I followed all the leads and everything lead to a dead end. All the sightings showed that Mr. Potter was indeed in those places at that time, but no one had any idea where the boy disappeared to. I did check the muggle methods of transportation, even looked for a magical signature, however, I found only dead ends." Lucius, Narcissa, and Marvolo traveled to different parts, with Hermione and Severus working on a timetable based off of muggle transportation methods to give the idea that Harry was just traveling around. "I did find a few drivers who saw him, but they couldn't remember if or when they let him off. Everyone I spoke to remembered seeing him there, but couldn't tell me where he went to afterward."

"I will have Moody and Kingsley follow up on that." Dumbledore had tried a few different tracking charms, however, since he didn't know the boy's real name, most of them failed. The ones that did work led him to just places the boy had been to, but not to the boy.

"I would suggest others. Moody and Kingsley don't know the muggle world that well. I might suggest someone like Annabelle Figg or someone who interacts with the muggles on a daily basis, especially if you want them to use the muggle transportation." Minerva knew how guff Moody could be, and Kingsley, while he offset Moody, didn't really know the muggle world. Moody was a bit better when it came to navigating the muggle world but not with dealing with muggles, actually Moody wasn't good with dealing with anything that drew breath.

"I can do it." Arthur shouted from the fireplace, clearly eager to explore the muggle world.

At a look from Minerva, Dumbledore agreed, Arthur wasn't the right choice. "I believe Mrs. Figg or someone who is in the muggle world would be better. We don't want the Ministry to wonder why are you in the muggle world."

Severus thought the name Mrs. Figg sounded familiar and filed it away to review later. He thought the name was one he heard in Harry and Julius' memories. He saw Hermione glance at him, confirming his theory that Mrs. Figg was someone involved in some way with the Dursley and Harry Potter.

"Isn't Mrs. Figg Harry's babysitter?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, she lives on the next street. She has been watching Harry since he was a baby." Dumbledore stated.

Severus inhaled deeply, but quietly. She knew, there was no way that the woman didn't know what was going on. She had to have seen the different looking Harry's, unless. He looked at Dumbledore, the man was providing even darker than he had ever thought possible. He wouldn't have put it past Dumbledore to memory charm a squib and since he was using the woman to watch Harry, he would do whatever necessary to protect himself and keep his Harry Potter alive.

"I will speak to Cornelius." Dumbledore stated.

"Tell him what?" Minerva asked.

"I am sure he will be willing to allow our people to find Harry." Dumbledore stated.

Severus realized he was going to get Lupin to start searching for Harry. He wasn't sure how the wolf would search for Harry, but he needed to warn Lucius, Narcissa, and Marvolo that the wolf would be joining the search. He had a few potions that could cover their scents and lead the wolf on a false trail. He would use the brewing to bring Hermione into the lab with Draco and Julius. He just had to get Dumbledore to think it was his idea.

"Severus, I want you to brew some tracking potions, perhaps Hermione could join you?" 

Severus laughed, inwardly, as he started his usual protesting. "I am able to brew without the help of the residence know-it-all."

"Severus!" Minerva snapped.

"I am aware, but I will also need your assistance in brewing other potions that you might think that will assist us." Dumbledore stated.

Severus protested a few more times before giving in. He was glad he had taught Hermione and Draco the basics of building a shield, as it was clearly needed. He knew that Dumbledore would only read the surface thoughts and he wouldn't dive deeper, especially with others around. "Ms. Granger be available first thing after breakfast." 

"Yes, Sir." Hermione replied.

"Good, good. Now, let's get some rest. Tomorrow will be a busy day." Dumbledore beamed a smile at them. 

Severus was eager to speak to Lucius and Marvolo but knew he had to stop by and check on his snakes and give his first-year speech. He found all his snakes in the common room, waiting for him to arrive. The prefects had clearly already provided the standard rules. He saw Julius was sitting with Draco and they were quietly speaking. He noticed at times, they didn't always need to verbal speak. He gave his usual Slytherin is family speech, reminding the older years to watch out for the younger ones. "Misters Malfoy I need a word." Severus ended his speech. 

Severus walked to his quarters with them following him. He indicated for them to sit down and he summoned some tea. "I am going to be speaking to your parents and Marvolo. Hermione will be joining us in the morning for brewing potions."

Draco nudged Julius. "How did that happen?" Draco asked.

Severus gave them a quick overview of what occurred in Dumbledore's office. 

"Do you think Mrs. Figg is involved? I didn't see her often, but there are a lot of memories of Harry and the others visiting with her. She mostly just showed pictures of her cats." Julius liked the old lady, she was crazy but nice.

"I don't believe she is. He would need to those who know the truth to a smaller number. He wouldn't want to take a chance of a wizard finding out the truth from her." Severus answered. "I am, however, going to suggest to Marvolo and your father to make sure. The more we know will allow us to keep ahead of Dumbledore. The goblins haven't provided any information to him."

"Well, we have all weekend to work out a plan before we have any classes with the Gryffindors." Draco said. 

"You still need to watch out for Mr. Weasley, and his sister. I wouldn't put it past him to bring her into whatever plots he manages to contrive. Hermione should be able to stop some of it, but the boy is a dunderhead. Now, head to bed, while I speak to your parents."

"Night, Severus." They headed back to their common room, and plan on a prank for Weasley. At the door, Severus added. "Remember boys, nothing that will hurt anyone."


	11. Chapter 11

Dumbledore glared at the letter. He really didn't need anything else going wrong. The Board and the goblins were removing all of the Weasley's because none of qualified for scholarships which would mean they would have to go for the long-term loan for all five of their children, including paying back the scholarship fund money they had already received, or he would need to find the funds for them to use. If he still had access to the Potter Vaults he would remove the money from there, but again, the goblins were stopping that. 

He also glared at the rolled up, very thick, scroll that showed the results of the audit on all of the Hogwarts accounts. He had to find a way to replace all the funds that were missing before the end of the school year. He wasn't sure how he was going to do that since all that money went towards the Order for the last war and in helping for the preparation of the one he knew was coming when Voldemort returned.

Dumbledore ignored the voice in his head reminding him that some of the funds had gone to a lot of illegal activities. He had bought some of the children from orphanages, he needed to pay for a lot of forged documents. He also paid for a lot of illegal potions, that he knew he couldn't let Severus brew. He wasn't even going to think about the money he paid to cover up the murders by Vernon. 

Originally, he was going to remove the funds from the Potter Vaults, but he knew if he took much gold out of the vault, the goblins would wonder what was going on. Now, he had the goblins looking at everything. He stalled the Board with the results claiming he was unclear on how the accounts were missing funds, but he knew it wouldn't last forever. Malfoy would keep pressing for answers and soon the others would demand answers to.

He looked down at the list of students in Hogwart. We knew some of the Muggle-born had to be related to some of the ancient and dead families, maybe he could-no, he better not even think of trying it. The goblins were looking too closely at the accounts, the vaults, and he knew they would most likely be presenting new ways to make sure their vaults were protected.

He wasn't worried about Minerva finding out, he had kept the woman away from the Hogwart accounts since she became Deputy. He was, however, worried about her looking into where his missing Harry Potter was. He knew Vernon had to have done something again. He really should have put the man under some compulsion spells, but he needed his weapon trained. 

The Aurors were looking into the family, according to Moody and Kingsley. They didn't like how they were acting in regards to their nephew missing. Dumbledore was already warned to remain away, as the Aurors were watching the property and had put alarms on the property. Dumbledore knew he could remove the alarms, but he also knew as soon as he started to remove them, Aurors would appear. 

He knew he couldn't send in Lupin, the wolf would be caught and as a werewolf, he would be deemed a threat. Dumbledore thought for a few minutes. It might be a way to cover himself. If the werewolf was destroyed, no one would be left to link him to the previous Harry Potters, except for the muggles, but he could deal with them later. 

That left him with the problem of the Wizengamot. He wasn't the Chief Warlock any longer, so he wasn't getting all the information. He wasn't even informed that they were investigating the Dursley. If it wasn't for his spies, Moody and Kingsley, he would have never found out. He had to get Lucius Malfoy out of the way. He knew that was a pointless endeavor. He had been trying for years to get rid of him, and the man seemed to be able to avoid everything Dumbledore had tossed at him. 

He might have to start using Severus as a way to get Malfoy out of the way. He could blackmail Severus into using a poison he invented under Voldemort. He knew they were untraceable. However, if Malfoy died, the oldest Malfoy boy would take the seats, and Narcissa would serve as the proxy. Maybe kill both of them, gain guardianship over the boys? No, they had a lot of relatives, and Severus was Draco's godfather, which means he would have to kill Severus. No, he needed his spy and if people start dying people might start to wonder, especially since Harry Potter was still missing. 

His name was already linked to many problems right now, he didn't need to take a chance. Maybe after all the audits were finished and he found a way to pay the money back. He had to think. Black? The money in the Black vaults? Maybe. He would need to check but he wasn't sure how he could. If he did any type of withdrawal or transfer, he had a feeling the goblins would investigate it. He needed to find Harry Potter. 

His floo flared to life and he saw Molly Weasley in it. "Albus?"

"I am here Molly." 

"Albus, what are we going to do? We can't afford a loan for all seven children's education."

"I am aware. I have been thinking of it myself. Molly, you might have to withdraw the Ron and Ginny. Home school them, using the older boys' books. Get a loan for the other three, see if you can get a separate one for the Bill and Charlie, see if they can pay for their own education. As soon as I can, I will find a way to aid you." He sent a nice compulsion charm at the woman. 

"I will speak to Arthur, Bill, and Charlie, but it does sound like a reasonable solution." 

_____________________________________________________________________

Severus felt sick as he and Marvolo looked at the memories from Julius. It was Saturday and Severus had flooed Julius, with Severus carrying him, over to Malfoy Manor, on the pretext of getting some potion ingredients. The floo network wouldn't recognize Julius' travel because Severus flooed with him. 

Marvolo had agreed with Julius theory in the basic terms, that the multiple memories would help figure out how many children there might be, but he did point out that the ones he only saw once or twice, might be hints that there were children who didn't last very long and that Dumbledore had used those memories to fill in gaps. 

Lucius and Narcissa were sitting with Julius, as he didn't want to watch the memories. Narcissa was giving them some tea with a calming draught, Marvolo and Severus were quiet for several minutes. "I am not sure how many children actually, but I think Severus will agree with me, that it had to be at least ten."

"I do agree. It seemed like in the earlier years, the children weren't able to live longer than a few months. I do believe there are some months missing, while they needed to find replacements. It wasn't until it looked primary school started that the children were lasting longer." 

The three Malfoys looked sickened by the news. "Is there any chance to find out exactly?" Julius looked up. "We need to find them and get justice for them."

"We will, Julius, we will. I know it's hard. I know you have been meeting with Dr. Sandov, but I promise we won't let him get away with it. I have people who are currently watching the Dursley family, and when it's time, they will also pay." Marvolo promised. 

Julius felt Narcissa tighten her hold on him. He looked up at his mother. "I am honestly doing better."

"We know." Lucius answered. 

"Julius, would it help you if I suggested that you create names for those children? Would you like that?" Marvolo suggested. "It might make it easier to separate the memories. Severus and I can help you with that if you wish. We can write out some of their personality traits and that way give you a sense that they had at least you who understands them."

"I think I would like that. When I see their memories, I-"

"You also feel them, and you haven't been able to figure out how to separate them, without losing them or yourself?" Severus suggested.

"Yes. I want them to have their own memories, I guess. I don't want them to be forgotten because of what Dumbledore has done." 

"I agree. We will help you." Marvolo gave him a slight encouraging smile. 

"I believe we can modify a family tree for them. If you want, we can create one for them to have." Narcissa kissed the top of her son's head as Lucius suggested the idea.

"That would be good, maybe Draco and Hermione can also help." 

"I am sure they would love too." Narcissa gave him another hug. "How about some hot chocolate before we send you back to go to bed?"

"Can I return with some of your brownies and biscuits?" Julius grinned. 

"Of course." Narcissa looked at Severus. "I have some for you too."


	12. Chapter 12

Julius, Hermione, and Draco were sitting at the Slytherin table. They were discreetly watching the students and staff. The school had changed in so many ways since Dumbledore was too busy fending off the goblins, the Ministry, his Harry Potter problem and the Wizengamot. The students were actually friendlier with other houses, especially since there wasn't Ron Weasley screaming about snakes, the Dark Lord, and well, just being himself. 

"Funny how getting rid of two people changes the whole school." Hermione not so quietly spoke. 

"How so?" Pansy, while not great friends with Hermione, was actually finding the girl interesting.

"I just mean that since Professor Dumbledore has been so busy and Ron Weasley not attending Hogwarts, the house rivalries appeared to have disappeared."

"True. I had also noticed the difference. Not having to walk in Gryffindor area with my wand in my hands is a big difference." Draco took a sip of his pumpkin juice, to hide his grin. He knew what Hermione was doing. So did his brother. 

"It was that bad?"

"Yes. Weasley would rant to anyone and everyone about how evil we are." 

"You're twelve, what did he think you were doing? Hunting down dragons and killing them?" Julius knew more students were listening. 

"Weasley used to say how all Slytherins were slimy snakes, Death Eaters, and evil." One of the older students explained. 

"Really, 11 and 12-year-old Death Eaters? How does that work?" Hermione had honestly wondered about the Weasley family, the only ones who appeared not ready to judge anyone was the Twins. She never met the older ones but from what she heard about them, they sounded more like the Twins than Ron or Percy. Ginny, well, that girl had issues. She worshipped Harry Potter and never met him.

"I think a lot of it is set to deflect that they are blood traitors." Blaise knew that statement earned a few surprised gasps.

"Why? What does it mean exactly?" Hermione, ever the Ravenclaw, wanted to know.

"It's simple, they have turned away from our culture. They don't honor our ways. They don't want others to learn our ways. So instead they tell everyone we are evil, we are against the muggle-born when all the purebloods want is to have them learn about their diverse culture, learn why we have them. If you look the muggles teach about their religions but we aren't allowed. If we make a statement about it, we get called racists, Death Eaters. We get told we want to kill all the muggles. You know the usual Weasley rant." Gemma Fey, a fifth year informed them. 

The Weasley twins heard, they exchanged a quick look and said as one. "It's our mother."

"Our father teaches us quietly, but she refuses to let us know." Percy admitted. "We don't agree with her, which is why we never commented on Slytherins or other purebloods."

"Everyone stand up, let's push the tables together and actually talk to everyone." Julius suggested.

The staff watched in shock as all four house tables were pushed together and students spent their breakfast and most of the day sharing information about their backgrounds. Yes, there were a few times when it got heated, but no curses or hexes were being thrown. Most agreed to research the hot topics. Hermione suggested every Saturday have a regular meeting. Everyone quickly agreed.

___________________________________________________________________________________

"Julius?" Severus looked at the boy. They had been creating the trees. They had been writing down what they learned from the memories. He could see the unshed tears in the boy's eyes. They had all had that issue. 

"I am not sure how we will find out who they are." Julius knew he was trying to keep his emotions from overflowing. His parents had arranged for him to see a mind healer once a week. They had informed Dumbledore it was a regular weekly health check since they didn't want to have a relapse.

The Dark Lord had been reviewing the different description of the boys, the personality differences. "Julius, even if we don't find any name for them, they will be remembered. We will make sure of it. Dumbledore and Lupin will be punished." He was going to make sure the boys wouldn't be forgotten. No one should be discarded the way Dumbledore had done to the boys. "I am also seeing if there is an area around Surrey where the bodies might be buried. I want to make sure they get a proper burial." 

They had spent a lot of hours reviewing Julius numerous memories, usually after taking a calming draught to get through them. No matter how many times they watched they were sickened by what they saw. They were currently in Severus' quarters. Dumbledore was off on some "hunt" for the missing Harry Potter. Julius gave the Dark Lord a slight smile. He knew everyone was working on bringing the boys "home". 

"The Dursley will be arrested later this week. Madam Bones is just waiting until Dumbledore to be in the Wizengamot, as she doesn't want him to try and save them." The Dark Lord and Lucius had gathered a lot of muggle reports regarding the abuse of Harry Potter. Dumbledore may have altered memories, but man didn't erase the computer reports. "The muggle authorities have been trailing them, and making sure they can't hide." 

"Are the goblins going to file too?" Julius wondered if maybe they could get rid of Dumbledore now. 

"No, I asked them to wait. I want to get more information on these boys, get all the evidence together. I don't want to give the man a way to escape." The Dark Lord gave Julius a quick hug.

"He might have Lupin killed." Severus knew Dumbledore wasn't above killing Lupin. While he personally couldn't even think of the wolf without thoughts of killing the man, he knew they needed Lupin alive.

"I have thought of that. Fenrir has a group of wolves watching him." 

"How hasn't he been caught before now?" Julius fingered a piece of parchment, not really looking at what they had written. 

The Dark Lord and Severus exchanged a quick look. "Your father and mother have been searching the Ministry archives regarding Dumbledore's past. The goblins are also copying information to send it to us. They wanted it checked and verified before they do."

"Julius?" Severus touched Julius' left arm.

"I'm fine, honestly, Severus. I am glad we know what happened. I can't imagine what he would have kept doing to me."

"Come, let's go and practice some of the spells. We can all vent a bit on some of the practice dummies." Severus sent Julius an encouraging smile. "I want to see if you can use some of your talents in a controlled setting."

The Dark Lord gathered all their work, casting a quick Parseltongue ward on the box he placed all the paperwork in. "I want to see if we can work on your controlling your lightning."

"You just want to see I can set fire to the dummies again." 

__________________________________________________________________

Dumbledore was finally taking a meal in the Great Hall. He frowned as he saw all the students had the tables formed into a square. Students were sitting on both sides of the tables, no one was actually sitting in with their housemates. He rose from his seat. "All students are required to sit at their house tables for meals." 

The students shrugged and moved around to sit at their tables but didn't move the tables themselves. They kept chatting with their friends in other houses by throwing parchment to the correct table. "He is going to start separating us again. Tell everyone to head to the library, we will work on finding a new place to eat." Draco smirked at Julius' idea.

___________________________________________________________________________

Dumbledore showed up for breakfast in the Great Hall but found only the staff in the room. "Where are the students?"

"We don't know." Minerva explained. "We asked the house elves and they all said the students are eating their breakfast and will be in their classes." 

Severus didn't say a word. He knew that Minerva knew where the students were, as he bet each Head of House did. All the students were currently eating in the kitchen. The house elves were excited and loved that the students were in the kitchen. The students loved it because the elves were giving them a bigger range of foods to select from. 

"Why aren't they here for breakfast, I wonder?" Dumbledore posed the question.

"Really? After you forced them to abandon their friends and forced them to sit with their houses. Not that they don't like their housemates, but the students, in all houses, have been getting along. We haven't had any curses, hexes, or even a fight in weeks." Filius smiled. He knew no one was going to mention the fact that the muggle-born and pureblood were teaching each other about their cultures. 

"It's for the best." Dumbledore wasn't about to let this continue. "You will inform your houses that they are required to attend meals in the Great Hall, at their house tables." Dumbledore got up and left the Great Hall. 

"I am not going to lie to them nor am I going to be party to breaking up the houses." Pomona spouted. "I like the new changes." 

"I do too." Minerva agreed. "While I wouldn't want to encourage this blatant disregard concerning Albus, but I feel it's better we let the students keep united."

All the staff agreed.


	13. Chapter 13

Lucius rushed home. He had to warn Severus and the Dark Lord, and get his son in a safe place when the news hit. He didn't even greet his wife. "We are needed at Hogwarts. Dumbledore was arrested. The goblins marched into Wizengamot and demanded that Dumbledore will come with them, where he will be charged with theft, line theft, embezzlement, child abuse, child neglect, and 24 counts of murder."

"24?" Narcissa felt sickened. Dumbledore had allowed 24 children to be killed. She gasped, as she realized they didn't have 24 children on the tree. 

"The goblins have Lupin, too. He went to the bank yesterday and they arrested him. Narcissa, they showed the memory in Wizenagamot. Rita was there and out the door within minutes after the goblins left with Dumbledore. One of the warriors actually hit Dumbledore in his arm when he went to pulled out his wand, while another one sent him crashing to the floor with a blow to his back."

"We need to tell them before the news breaks." Narcissa didn't delay any longer as they rushed to the floo. They went straight to Severus' quarters.

___________________________________________________________

Severus was a bit surprised to find Narcissa and Lucius stepping into his quarters. He went to greet them but saw how pale Narcissa was. "What's wrong?" Severus felt dread fill his gut.

"We need you to get our boys and the Dark Lord here. It's important, Julius will need us." Lucius guided his wife to the couch. 

Severus didn't ask, he left to go and get those needed. He felt the dread that was building in his stomach head towards his heart. Lucius and Narcissa would never have arrived and wanted to see their children without explaining unless something happened. He headed for the Dark Lord first. He cast wards as soon as he entered the man's office. "Lucius and Narcissa are in my quarters, they need to see you and the boys."

"The Wizengamot." The Dark Lord knew they were meeting today but didn't think there was anything big on the agenda. He wondered what Dumbledore had done. Did the man have proof? Did the man know that Julius was his former Harry Potter?

Severus' eyes went a bit wide as he understood what might have happened. He swallowed the bile that rose in his throat, hoping Dumbledore didn't destroy Julius. Together they went to find the boys. "Hermione?" The Dark Lord quietly asked.

"If she is with them, we will have her come with us." As they were heading towards the kitchen, hoping to find the boys there, an elf appeared, handed the Dark Lord a letter, popped away.

The Dark Lord opened it. He knew Severus saw the Gringotts' seal of the parchment.

Lord Slytherin:

I am sorry for the lack of notice. We were given no choice. It was either appear in Wizengamot or go to war. 

Ironclaw

"I'm sure Lucius can fill us in." Severus answered after he read the letter. 

_____________________________________________________________

Lucius wasn't sure where to start. He already had everyone drink a calming draught, including himself. "The goblins were given no choice in this, they were forced to do this by Dumbledore. Granted, I don't think the man expected it to backfire like it did."

"What happened?" The Dark Lord wondered what Dumbledore had done. Dumbledore had been in power so long the man believed nothing could touch him. Nothing would remove him from his positions. Dumbledore and Lupin were the real destroyers of their world.

"Cornelius informed me earlier that Dumbledore had come to him and demanded that he do something about the Potter family seats and vaults. Since he was the magical guardian, he wanted to know why the goblins were keeping him out of the accounts. Cornelius was wondering too, but he agreed to sign an order, Dumbledore got a few of his supports from Wizengamot to sign off on it. Cornelius, unknowingly, sent a Letter of Demand to King Ragnarok. Cornelius sent it yesterday after they arrested Lupin. So I am not sure if Dumbledore was hoping that Lupin would be able to get information on his missing Harry Potter or if they were looking to remove evidence. I believe he panicked."

"What is a Letter of Demand?" Julius could see he wasn't the only one wondering, as Hermione and Draco had puzzled faces too.

"It's a letter that will override any ward or security on a vault. It would have given Dumbledore complete access to all of the Potter, Black, and other vaults you have. It would have allowed him to remove everything from them. A Letter of Demand has only been used once before, it caused the Goblin Rebellion."

"How did he sent one unknowingly?" The Dark Lord wondered about their Minister. 

"From what the memory showed, it showed Dumbledore casting one of the Unforgiveables. He used Imperio on Cornelius. When the mind healer was brought into exam him, with two Unspeakables, they found numerous memory charms and previous signs of Imperio being used on him. He has been admitted to St. Mangos for treatment."

"So the goblins marched into the Wizengamot?" Severus wondered why Dumbledore would have done such a thing. 

"Yes. It seems since Lupin didn't return from Gringotts last night, Dumbledore believed that the goblins were aware of his deeds and wanted a war. He had added on this mornings agenda goblin problem and Harry Potter issue. I honestly believe that he didn't think the goblins would come to the Wizengamot and demand that he be arrested." Lucius swallowed. 

"What does it mean for him to be arrested? What charges?" Hermione wondered if maybe this was over. That Dumbledore would be gone for good. 

"Dumbledore was arrested and charged with theft, line theft, embezzlement, child abuse, child neglect, and 24 counts of murder, that is from the goblins. I know Amelia will be adding her own charges."

"24?" Julius looked horrified. "We don't have that many on the tree. How are we going to know who they are? How...How..." Narcissa pulled her son into her lap as the three children started crying. Lucius pulled Draco to him, while Severus was holding Hermione. "How will we find that many?" Julius had his head buried into Narcissa's robes, the words were muffled but clear. Draco and Hermione added their own concerns. 

"Julius, it might not be just the children. He might have had adults killed." The Dark Lord was hoping there weren't 24 children killed. He wouldn't be surprised if the man was linked to a lot more murders.

"It's the children. The adults were being listed separately. Ironclaw gave a folder to Amelia of the adults that Lupin admitted that he and Dumbledore had murdered. They weren't turned, they weren't even known to be killed by a werewolf. Now, according to Ironclaw, because the children had a direct tie to Harry Potter, they were able to use that to get the charges filed." Lucius explained once everyone calmed down a bit. Julius was still in Narcissa's lap. "To answer your question, Hermione, for Lupin and Dumbledore to be charged by the goblins means they will face a trial by goblins."

"Goblin trials are fast." The Dark Lord sighed. "They don't allow the accused to speak if there is enough evidence of guilt. Lupin and Dumbledore are finished. It would be the only reason why they marched to Wizengamot is if they had solid evidence and it wasn't just based on what we know. Lupin had to give some solid evidence of what they did." 

"I expect them to be beheaded tomorrow at the last." Lucius knew it was good for their world that Dumbledore was removed but he was worried about his son. They needed to find those children and get them laid to rest in a proper burial ritual. "They are going to force Dumbledore and Vernon Dursley to tell where the bodies are, but if they are charmed, we might never know." 

"Is that possible?" Hermione was wiping her eyes.

"Yes, Dumbledore loves to keep his secrets close. Frankly, I was surprised that Lupin was able to speak about what they did." Lucius wondered if the goblins removed the memory charms. If they did it without a system purge by doing it the old-fashioned way with goblin magic, it would be painful. He hoped they did it the old-fashioned way.

"So the goblins are going to get Vernon to see about locating the bodies?" Severus wasn't sure how that was going to work with the muggle authorities.

"Yes, Amelia is working on it with Ironclaw. Julius, this is up to you, but I believe speaking to Amelia and allowing us to show her your memories will help." 

Julius knew his father was right, but he was having a hard time dealing with all the memories, never mind speaking about it. "I don't have to watch them?" While the mind healer was helping, he knew he wasn't ready to have others know he was one of the Harry Potters, and that he was abused.

"No, and I will ask Amelia to make sure that no one but those who need to know you were one of the victims, will be allowed to know." Lucius knew Amelia would agree. 

"I will do it. I want us to find those others." Julius inhaled deeply. "They need to be acknowledged and give their own families some peace."

Lucius and Narcissa smiled. 'I'm so proud of you." Lucius pulled his son into his arms. "I'm proud of the three of you. You have helped unite the school. You have helped in so many ways." 

"I agree. I know the staff is very proud of the three of you, leading the way to keeping everyone unified, despite Dumbledore's goals." The Dark Lord watched the three pre-teens blush.

"Rita will be printing all of this. If you have any problems, concerns, or worries I expect the three of you to come to us." Severus


	14. Chapter 14

Marvolo was a bit worried, no, he was a lot worried. He knew Lucius, Narcissa, and Severus were also worried. Ever since they had discovered there were 24 children killed, Julius was stressing himself out trying to discover who the children were.

The goblins had tried to learn the names of the children, but Lupin and Dumbledore never bothered to learn them. Lupin was beheaded the next day, Dumbledore was dragged before the Wizengamot, charged with his crimes, and sentenced to twenty years in Azkaban before being sent to the goblin mines. 

The Wizenagamot revised the rebirth ritual and performed it on Dumbledore. The ritual de-aged the man back to his early twenties while removing most of his magic, leaving him almost a squib. The goblins had him for the rest of his life, which was going to be a very long painful life.

Sadly there wasn't much of a trial for either man. They were found guilty by the goblins and the Wizengamot just agreed. Now they were left with the cleanup. 

Hogwarts now had Headmaster Severus Snape. Many felt that while Minerva was a wonderful professor, she didn't really do her duties as a Deputy Headmistress or Head of House. She was asked to select which position she wanted, as the Board felt no more doubling up on duties. Minerva remained as Head of Gryffindor, while they searched for a new Deputy. 

Marvolo applied to be the new Deputy, and with Lucius and Severus backing his appointment, he knew he would be the new Deputy. Severus and he had a lot of new plans for Hogwarts, plans to return a lot of the classes that Dumbledore had banned. However, his first concern was Julius.

They were at Malfoy Manor for the week. All the students were sent home as Hogwarts needed to have her wards fixed, thanks to Dumbledore's meddling with them. So everyone was given the week off. "Hermione, Draco, and Julius want to create a headstone, put the tree on it, with the boys' names. The ones that don't have names, they want us all to think of one to add." Narcissa showed them the new tree that everyone had been working since they realized there were 24 boys. 

"It would give a sense of peace to Julius and maybe some of the boys' families." Severus stood in the doorway. "I talked to a few of the families with Madam Bones. Hogwarts is going to create a new scholarship in their names. The first children to benefit from it will be the siblings of the boys. The oldest is set to start Hogwarts next year." 

"I agreed to match any donation." Lucius took a sip of his wine as Severus pour himself a drink from the bar. 

"I had Ironclaw create a new vault, I moved $500,000 Galleons over. The boys' families will be taken care of." Marvolo was still trying to process everything Dumbledore did. Dumbledore admitted to knowing about the children being abused. He admitted that he knew Tom, Severus, and others were abused but since they weren't in Gryffindor, he felt they deserved it. He believed if you were in Gryffindor and were abused, it made you a better lion and while he would try to improve the situation, he never removed any child from an abusive situation. 

"Marvolo, how are you handling all the news?" Narcissa had been forcing all of them to speak to mind healers.

"I'm finding that while I'm a bit surprised, overall, I am fine. We knew he ignored the abuse. I have had a long time to accept it. I'm more concerned about Julius. It's a lot for him to deal with. 24 different sets of memories, 24 lives that were ended so he could use Julius as Harry Potter." 

"I spoke to Healer Osbourne about it. She agreed with what we have been doing. She liked the idea of the tree, and actually encouraged Julius to give them each a little history, but doesn't want him to create stories about them. So she told him to give each boy three facts about them, and if he couldn't, that was fine."

Severus looked down at the tree. "We will never know all of them, but the muggles did find the bodies, and agreed to work on getting answers. Amelia mentioned that some of them weren't even two. So they believe most of them died from neglect, not physical blows. Not that one way is better."

"Amelia, with two of the Unspeakables, agreed that they might never know. They believe that some of the adults that Dumbledore and Lupin killed might have been the parents, so they are going to exhume any witch and see." Lucius wasn't sure how the muggles could determine that, but if it gave them more answers, he would agree to anything idea presented.

"At least it's over for Dumbledore and Lupin." Severus wasn't sure how the next few years would go, but he knew things could only improve.

________________________________________________

Ten years later:

"Hermione, you look amazing." Narcissa stood next to the new bride to be.

"Thanks, I'm so nervous." Hermione looked like she was going to strangle the bouquet of soft lavender roses in her hands. She was dressed in white soft vicuna formal robes. Her hair was pinned up, her veil was her grandmothers' antique white handcrafted lace veil that was ten feet long. 

It was the middle of January and Hermione had wanted a white wedding. She got it. It was snowing outside, and Lucius had expanded the sunroom to fit all the guests for the wedding. 

"I bet my son is just as nervous as you. I know I can't wait for you to become an official part of this family." Narcissa handed Hermione a small box. 

Hermione opened up the small box, inside was a diamond tree with two branches. "It had four before." She was confused, as she had seen Narcissa wearing it.

"Yes. It's part of the Malfoy family jewelry. Each woman in the family gets one on their wedding day. The two branches will sprout other branches as you have children." Narcissa took the pin out of Hermione's hand and pinned it to her gown. "Now, let's get you married." 

____________________________________________

Severus and Marvolo were watching Hermione dancing with her new husband. "They look amazing together." Hermione had grown up to be a very beautiful woman, full of confidence and love. Draco, her husband, matched her in every way. 

"Took them long enough, they have been dating since our fourth year." Julius joined his husbands. 

"You know they wanted to finish their education and get settled into their jobs. Not everyone was as eager as you to stake their claim." Marvolo turned his head. Julius, while having a lot of issues to deal with, had shown he was a strong and capable person. He had overcome all that Dumbledore had tried to do. 

"You know he got tired of us saying not until we are bonded." Severus looked around the room. The guests ranged from the elderly members to the students at Hogwarts. They had done away with the old house system and now sorted the incoming students by their needs and desires. 

Severus and Marvolo were still Headmaster and Deputy, they no longer taught any classes. Julius was now in charge of the Potion Section, with the Weasley twins being the other two potion professors. Draco was the DADA department head, with Sue Li and Terry Boot as the additional professors. Hermione had joined Lucius is his law practice.


End file.
